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HELPER'S IMPENDING CRISIS 

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CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 
The Black Republican Party a Disunion Party — The Unanswerable Proofs — Their Open 
Hostility to the South — The Fanatics of the North urging on a " Crisis" that will re- 
bound on the heads of the Freemen of the North, and bring down Labor in the North, 
to Starvation Prices! — The Ball set in motion — Strike of Six Thousand Mechanics ia 
' Massachusetts — First Fruits of Republicanism. 

CHAPTER II. 
Statistical Fallacies of Helper's Book — The True State of the Case — Large Balance in. 
favor of the South — The boasted Free Labor of the North overshadowed by the Pro- 
ductions of the South — Report of the Secretary of the United States Treasury — The 
Republican Party trying to Dissolve the Union of the States — The South in favor of 
Perpetuating the Union of these States, as long as their rights are respected — Repub- 
lican Party a Sectional Party — The Proofs from Northern Men. 

CHAPTER III. 
Helper's Slanders on the Non-Slaveholding People of the South Refuted — Better chance 
in the South for a Poor Man than in the North — The Proofs — Names of Prominent 
Statesmen of the South who have risen from Poverty to the highest Eminence — The 
Negro well treated in the South — Richly repaid for his Labor — Comparisons between 
the poor Whites of the North and the Negro of the South — The Strike of the poor 
"Whites in Massachusetts — They admit that they are worse off than the Slaves in the 
South. 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Hypocrisy of Helper— In favor of Slavery in his Work issued IS.J.j— Driven from 
■ the South for stealing three hundred dollars — Writes " Helper's Impending Crisis 
of the South"— Helper Denounces Free Negroes in his " Land of Gold"— Valuable 
Statistical information in regard to the Power and Wealth of the South— Seaports of 
the South— Shore line of States on the Atlantic Ocean in favor of the South of eight- 
een thousand miles more than the North— The power of the South to establish and 
maintain a separate and independent Government against the united North combined 
—The military strength of the South estimated at six million Whites— Her immense 
resources in case of War. 



CHAPTER V. 

Helper's ignorance of the feelings of the Non-Slaveholding Population of the South te 
their Couutry — The Negroes of the South true to their Masters — The Proofs given at 
Harper's Perry — Nit a Slave attempted to run away — The South have no fears of the 
uprising of the Negroes — How the Negroes aided their Masters to repel the British, 
under Lord Comwallis, and at New Orleans — Report of the Virginia Legislature ou 
the Harper's Ferry Outrage. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Republican Party Ruining the Trade of the North — Trade Crushed — The Bankruptcy 
of the entire North Predicted — Helper's Advice to the North adopted by the entire 
South — Republican Party Responsible for the Withdrawal of the Southern Trad? — 
"The Shoe commences to Pinch" — Helper's Statistics of the Prices of Land in the 
South demolished. ' • 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Declaration of Independence quoted to prove that the Negro was not born " Created 
Free and Equal" with the White. Man—Judge Taney's Decision in the Dred Scott 
Case quoted to prove the Author's assertions. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

N'orthern Testimony in regard to the Aggressions of the Republican Party against the 
South — Extracts from the Speeches of the Hon. J. A. Logan and Stephen A. Douglass 
— The Damage inflicted upon the Northern Merchants and Manufacturers by the Re- 
publican Party — The Proofs — The South in favor of Disunion in certain Contingen- 
cies — Eloquent Defense of the South by Hon. Horatio G. Seymour, of New York, an«l 
Col. J. W. Wall, of New Jersey. 

CHAPTER IX. 

The South united to a Man, ready to beat back the Northern Hordes with Cannon and. 
Sword — Armories going up in the South — Manufactories increasing in every Southern 
State — The South could create a Bread Riot in the North any season, by withhold- 
ing the Cotton Crop — Northern men should ponder well over these facts, before 
urging on this Republican Crusade against the South 

CHAPTER X. 
Eloquent Defense of the South by the Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi— Who in- 
troduced Slavery into this Country? — The Republicans — Their Hypocrisy — A Disso- 
lution of the Union inevitable, if the Republicans succeed — A War of Esterminatioa 
Predicted, if ouce commenced — Are the Northern People prepared for this ? — Answer 
at the Ballot-Boxes. 

CHAPTER XI. 
The Bible sustains Slavery — Christ sustained Slavery — Slavery has existed in every 
age since the foundation of the World — The Proofs — The Negro as he is— His incapa- 
city to govern himself — Free Negroes relapse into Barbarism — The Proofs — Conclu- 
sion and Appeal to the Northern People to sustain this Glorious Confederacy, by 
putting down the Republican Leaders. 



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Showing the Frauds in every branch of Merchandise — Frauds 1 ia 
Liquors, Fraud's in Wines, Frauds in Bread, Frauds in Flour, 
Frauds in Dry-Goods, Frauds in What we Eat, Frauds in Drugs 
and Mbdiotnes, Frauds in Weights and Measures, Frauds in Silk 
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1JK 







The Voyage of the 'Fox' in the Arctic Seas. 
A-NARRATIVE 

OF THE 

DISCOVERY OF THE FATE 

OF 

SIR JOHN FRANKLIN 

AND 

HIS COMPANIONS. 



1 

By CAPTAIN M'CLINTOCK, R.N., LL.D 




WITH. MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

J. T, L L 0"Z-D, i«t 

1860. 






AUG 12 1927 



DEDICATION. 



My Dear Lady Franklin, 

There is no one to whom I could with so much pro- 
priety or willingness dedicate my Journal as to you. For you 
't was originally written, and to please you it now appears in 
print. 

To our mutual friend, Sherard Osborne, I am greatly 
obliged for his kindness in seeing it through the press — a labor 
I could not have settled down to so soon after my return ; and 
also for pointing out some omissions and technicalities which 
would have rendered parts of it unintelligible to an ordinary 
reader. These kind hints have been but partially attended to, 
and, as time presses, it appears with the mass of its original 
imperfections, as when you read it in manuscript. Such as 
it is, however, it affords me this valued opportunity of assur- 
ing you. of the real gratification I feel in having been instru- 
mental in accomplishing an object so dear to you. To your 
devotion and self-sacrifice the world is indebted for the deeply 
interesting revelation unfolded by the voyage of the 'Fox.' 

Believe me to be, 

With sincere respect, most faithfully yours, 

F. L. M'CLINTOCK. 

London, 2ith Nov., 1859. 



LIST OF OFFICERS AND SHIP'S COMPANY 
OF THE 'FOX.' 



F. L. M'Clintock, 
W. R. Hobson, . 
Allen W. Young, 
David Walker, M.D 
George Brands, . 
.Carl Petersen, 
Thomas Blackwell 

Wm. Harvey, . 
Henry Toms, . 
Alex. Thompson, 
John Simmonds, . 
George Edwards, 
Robert Scott, 

Thomas Grinstead, 
George Hobday, . 
Robert Hampton, 
John A. Hazleton, 
George Carey, . 
Ben. Pound, . 
Wm. Walters, . 
Wm. Jones, 
James Pitcher, 
Thomas Florance, 
Richard Shingleton, 
Anton Christian, 
Samuel Emanuel, . 



Captain R.N. 

Lieutenant R.N. 

Captain, Mercantile Marine. 

Surgeon and Naturalist. 

Engineer, died 6th Nov., 1858, (Apoplexy) 

Interpreter. 

Ship's Steward, died 14th June, 1859, 

(Scurvy) 
Chief Quartermaster. 
Quartermaster. 
« 

Boatswain's Mate. 
Carpenter's Mate. 
Leading Stoker, died 4th Deo., 1857, (in 

consequence of a fall.) 
Sailmaker. 
Captain of Hold. 
A. B. 



Carpenter's Cqew 
Dog-driver. 

Stokers. 

Officers' Steward. 

Greenland Esquimaux, discharged in Green- 
land. 



(9) 



OFFICIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE 
SERVICES OF THE YACHT 'FOX.' 



Admiralty, London, 
SlK, 24th Oct., 1850. 

I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the 
Admiralty to acquaint you, that, in consideration of the im- 
portant services performed by you in bringing home the only 
authentic intelligence of the death of the late Sir John Frank- 
lin, and of the fate of the crews of the 'Erebus' and 'Terror,' 
Her Majesty has been pleased, by her Order in Council of the 
22nd instant, to sanction the time during which you were ab- 
sent on these discoveries in the Arctic Regions, viz., from the 
30th June, 1857, to the 21st of September, 1859, to reckon aa 
time served by a captain in command of one of Her Majesty'a 
ships, and my Lords have given the necessary directions ac- 
cordingly. 

I am, Sir, 

Your very humble servant, 

W. G. EOMAINE, 

Secretary to the Admiralty. 
Captain Francis L. M'Clinlock, R.N. 

(10) 



PREFACE. 



The following narrative of the bold adventure 
which has successfully revealed the last discoveries 
and the fate of Franklin, is published at the request 
of the friends of that illustrious navigator. The gal- 
lant M'Clintock, when he penned his Journal amid the 
Arctic ices, had no idea whatever of publishing it ; 
and yet there can be no doubt that the reader will 
peruse with the deepest interest the simple tale of how, 
in a litttle vessel of one hundred and seventy tons 
burden, he and his well-chosen companions have 
cleared up this great mystery. 

To the honor of the British nation, and also let it 
be said to that of the United States of America, many 
have been the efforts made to discover the route fol- 
lowed by our missing explorers. The highly deserv- 
ing men who have so zealously searched the Arctie 
seas and lands in this cause must now rejoice, that 
after all their anxious toils, the merit of rescuing from 
the frozen North the record of the last days of Frank- 
lin has fallen to the share of his noble-minded widow. 

Lady Franklin has, indeed, well shown what a de- 
voted and true-hearted English woman can accomplish. 

(11) 



12 PREFACE. 

The moment that relics of the expedition commanded 
by her husband were brought home (in 1854) by Eae. 
and that she heard of the account given to him by the 
Esquimaux of a large party of Englishmen having 
been seen struggling with difficulties on the ice neai 
the mouth of the Back or Great Eish Biver, she re- 
solved to expend all her available means (already much 
exhausted in four other independent expeditions) in 
an exploration of the limited area to which the search 
must thenceforward be necessarily restricted. 

"Whilst the supporters of Lady Franklin's efforts 
were of opinion that the Government ought to have 
undertaken a search, the extent of which was, for the 
first time, definitely limited, it is but rendering justice 
to the then Prime Minister* to state, that he had every 
desire to carry out the wishes of the men of sciencef 
who appealed to him, and that he was precluded from 
acceding to their petition, by nothing but the strongly 
expressed opinion of official authorities, that after so 
many failures, the Government were no longer justi- 
fied in sending out more brave men to encounter fresh 
dangers in a cause which was viewed as hopeless 



* Viscount Palmerston. 

f See the Memorial (Appendix) addressed to the First Lord 
of the Treasury, headed by Admiral Sir F. Beaufort, General 
Sabine, and many other men of science, and which, as President 
of the Royal Geographical Society, I presented to the Prime 
Minister ; and also the speech of Lord Wrottesly, the President 
of the Royal Society, who, in the absence of the lamented Earl 
of Ellesmere, brought the subject earnestly under the notice 
of the House of Lords on the 18th of July, 1856. 



PREFACE. 13 

Hence, it devolved on Lady Franklin and her friends 
to be the sole means of endeavoring to bring to light 
the true history of her husband's voyage and fate. 

Looking to the list of Naval worthies who, during 
the preceding years, had been exploring the Arctic 
Kegions, Lady Franklin was highly gratified when she 
obtained the willing services of Captain M'Clintock 
to command the yacht 'Fox,' which she had pur- 
chased ; for that officer had signally distinguished 
himself in the voyages of Sir John Eoss and Captain 
(now Admiral) Austin, and especially in his extensive 
journeys on the ice, when associated with Captain 
Kellett. With such a leader, she could not but en- 
tertain sanguine hopes of success when the fast and 
well-adapted little vessel sailed from Aberdeen on the 
1st of July, 1857, upon this eventful enterprise. 

Deep, indeed, was the mortification experienced by 
every one who shared the feelings and anticipations 
of Lady Franklin when the untoward news came, in 
the summer of 1858, that, the preceding winter having 
set in earlier than usual, the 'Fox' had been beset in 
the ice off Melville Bay, on the coast of Greenland, 
and after a dreary winter, various narrow escapes, and 
eight months of imprisonment, had been carried back 
by the floating ice nearly twelve hundred geographical 
miles — even to 68 J° N. lat. in the Atlantic ! (See the 
woodcut map, No. 1.) 

But although the good litle yacht had been most 
roughly handled among the ice-floes (see Frontispiece), 
we were cheered up by the information from Disco, 
that, with the exception of the death of the engine- 



14 PREFACE. 

driver in consequence of a fall into the hold, the crew 
were in stout health and full of energy, and that, 
provided with sufficient fuel and provisions, a good 
supply of sledging dogs, two tried Esquimaux:, and 
the excellent interpreter Petersen the Dane,* ample 
grounds yet remained to lead us to hope for a suc- 
cessful issue. Above all, we were encouraged by the 
proofs of the self-possession and calm resolve of 
M'Clintock, who held steadily to the accomplishment 
of his original project ; the more so, as he had then 
tested and recognized the value of the services of 
Lieutenant (now Commander) Hobson, his able second 
in command ; of Captain Allen Young, his generous 
volunteer associate ;f and of Dr. "Walker, his accom- 
plished Surgeon. 

Despite, however, of these reassuring data, many 
an advocate of this search was anxiously alive to the 
chance of the failure of the venture of one unassisted 
yacht, which after sundry mishaps was again starting 
to cross Baffin's Bay, with the foreknowledge that, 
when she reached the opposite coast, the real diffi- 
culties of the enterprise were to commence. 

Any such misgivings were happily illusory; and 



* Since lis return to Copenhagen, Petersen has been wor- 
thily honored by his Sovereign with the silver cross of Danne- 
brog. 

t Captain Allen Young, of the merchant marine, not only 
threw his services into this cause, and subscribed £500 in fur- 
therance of the expedition, but, abandoning lucrative ap- 
pointments in command, generously accepted a subordinate 
post. 



PREFACE. 15 

the reader who follows M'Clintock across the " middle 
ice" of Baffin's Bay to Pond Inlet, thence to Beechey 
Island, down a portion of Peel Strait, and then 
through the hitherto unnavigated waters of Bellot 
Strait in one summer season, may reasonably expect 
the success which followed. 

"Whilst the revelation obtained from the long-sought 
records, which were discovered by Lieutenant Hobson, 
is most satisfactory to those who speculated on the 
probability of Franklin having, in the first instance, 
tried to force his way northwards through Wellington 
Channel (as we now learn he did), those who held a 
different hypothesis, namely, that he followed his 
instructions, which directed him to the S. "W., may 
be amply satisfied that in the following season the 
ships did pursue this southerly course till they were 
finally beset in K lat. 70° 05'.* 

At the same time, the public should fully under- 
stand the motive which prompted the supporters of 

* For a rtsumt of all the plans of research and the specula- 
tions of seamen and geographers, see the interesting and most 
useful volume of Mr. John Brown, entitled, "The North-West 
Passage and Search after Sir John Franklin," 1858. In an Ap- 
pendix to this work, we learn that, from the earliest Polar re- 
searches by John Cabot, at the end of the 15th century, to the 
voyage of M'Clintock, there have been about 130 expeditions, 
illustrated by 250 books and printed documents, of which 150 
have been issued in England. Amidst the various recent pub- 
lications, it is but rendering justice to Dr. King, the former 
companion of Sir George Back, to state that he suggested and 
always maintained the necessity of a search for the missing 
navigators at or near the mouth of the Back River. 



16 PREFACE. 

Lady Franklin in advocating the last search. Put 
ing aside the hope which some of us entertained, that 
a few of the younger men of the missing expedition 
might still be found to be living among the Esqui- 
maux, we had every reason to expect that if the 
ships were discovered, the scientific documents of the 
voyage, including valuable magnetic observations, 
would be recovered. 

In the absence of such good fortune we may, how- 
ever, well be gladdened by the discovery of that one 
precious document which gives us a true outline of 
the voyage of the ' Erebus' and ' Terror.' 

That the reader may comprehend the vast extent 
of sea traversed by Franklin in the two summers 
before his ships were beset, a small map (No. |) is 
here introduced representing all the lands and sea3 
of the Arctic Eegions to the west of Lancaster Sound 
which were known and laid down when he sailed. 
The dotted lines and arrows, which extend from the 
then known seas and lands into the unknown waters 
or blank spaces on this old map, indicate Franklin's 
route, the novelty, range, rapidity, and boldness of 
which, as thus delineated, may well surprise the 
geographer, and even the most enterprising Arctic 
sailor.* For, those who have not closely attended 

* The letter A in Baffin's Bay ("fig. 1) indicates the spot where 
Franklin was last seen. In fig. 2, B is the winter rendezvous 
at Beechey Island ; C, the greatest northing of the expedition, 
viz., 770 N. lat. ; Z, the final beset of the 'Erebus' and ' Terror' ; 
the extreme north and south points of their voyage being repre- 
sented by two small ships. 

■f See map on back of the large map in front of book. 



PREFACE. l>j 

to the results of other Arctic voyages may be informed, 
that rarely has an expedition in the first year accom- 
plished more by its ships than the establishing of 
good winter quarters, from whence the real researches 
began by sledge-work in the ensuing spring. Frank- 
lin, however, not only reached Beechey Island, but 
ascended Wellington Channel, then an unknown sea, 
to 77° N. lat., a more northern latitude in this meri- 
dian than that attained long afterward in ships by 
Sir Edward Belcher, and much to the north of the 
points reached by Penny and De Haven. Next, though 
most scantily provided with steam-power, Franklin 
navigated round Cornwallis's Land, which he thus 
proved to be an island. The last discovery of a 
navigable channel throughout, between Cornwallis 
and Bathurst Islands, though made in the very sum- 
mer he left England, has remained even to this day 
unknown to other navigators ! 

Franklin then, in obedience, to his orders, steered 
to the southwest. Passing, as M' Clin took believes, 
down Peel's Strait in 1846, and reaching as far as 
lat. 70° 05' K, and long. 98° 23' W., where the ships 
were beset, it is clear that he who, with others, had 
previously ascertained the existence of a channel 
along the north coast of America, with which the 
sea wherein he was interred had a direct communica- 
tion, was the first real discoverer of the North- West 
Passage. This great fact must therefore be inscribed 
upon the monument of Franklin. 

The adventurous M'Clure, who has been worthily 
honored for working out another North-Western pass- 
2 



13 PREFACE. 

age, wliicli we now know to have been of subsequent 
date,* as well as Collinson, who, taking the ' Enter- 
prise' along the north coast of America, and afterward 
bringing her home, reached with sledges the western 
edge of the area recently laid open by M'Clintock, 
will, I have no doubt, unite with their Arctic associ- 
ates, Bichardson, Sherard Osborn, and M'Clintock, in 
affirming, that "Franklin and his followers secured 
the honor for which they died — that of being the first 
discoverers of the North- West Passage."f 

Again, when we turn from the discoveries of Frank- 
lin to those of M'Clintock, as mapped in red colors on 
the general map, on which is represented the amount 
of outline laid down by all other Arctic explorers from 
the days when these modern researches originated with 

* In 1850. 

f See a most heart-stirring sketch of the last voyage of Sir 
John Franklin, by Captain Sherard Osborn, in the periodical 
Once a week, of the 22d and 29th October and 5th November 
last. Possessing a thorough acquaintance with the Arctic Re- 
gions, the distinguished seaman has shown more than his ordi- 
nary power of description, in placing before the public his 
conception of what may have been the chief occurrences in the 
voyage of the 'Erebus' and 'Terror,' and the last days of 
Franklin, as founded upon an acquaintance with the character 
of the chief and his associates, and the record and relics ob- 
tained by M'Clintock. This sketch is prefaced by a spirited 
and graceful outline of all previous geographical discoveries, 
from the day when they were originated by the father of all 
modern Arctic enterprise, Sir John Barrow, to whom, and to 
many other eminent persons, from Sir Edward Parry downward, 
I have in various Geographical Addresses offered the tribute 
of my admiration. 



PREFACE. 19 

Sir John Barrow, we perceive that, in addition to the 
discovery of the course followed by the ' Erebus' and 
'Terror/ some most important geographical data have 
been accumulated by the last expedition of Lady 
Franklin. 

Thus, M'Clintock has proved that the strait named 
by Kenedy in an earlier private expedition of Lady 
Franklin after his companion the brave ^Lieutenant 
Bellot, and which has hitherto been regarded only as 
an impassable frozen channel, or ignored as a channel 
at all, is a navigable strait, the south shore of which is 
thus seen to be the northernmost land of the continent 
of America. 

M'Clintock has also laid down the hitherto unknown 
coast-line of Boothia, southward from Bellot Strait to 
the Magnetic Pole, has delineated the whole of King 
William's Island, and opened a new and capacious, 
though ice-choked channel, suspected before, but not 
proved, to exist, extending from Victoria Strait in a 
northwest direction to Melville or Parry Sound. The 
latter discovery rewarded the individual exertions of 
Captain Allen Young, but will very properly, at Lady 
Franklin's request, bear the name of the leader of the 
' Fox' expedition, who had himself assigned to it the 
name of the widow of Franklin* 



* In his volume before cited, p. 12, Mr. John Brown gave 

strong reasons (which he had held for some time) for believing 

in the existence of the very channel which now bears the name 

of M'Clintock. It is, however, the opinion both of that officer 

■ad his associates, as also of Captain Sherard Osborn, that 



20 PREFACE. 

Neither has the expedition been unproductive of 
scientific results. For, whilst many persons will be 
interested in the popular descriptions of the native 
Esquimaux, as well as of the lower animals, the man 
of science will hereafter be further gratified by having 
presented to him, in the form of an additional Ap 
pendix,* most valuable details relating to the zoology 
botany, meteorology, and especially to the terrestrial 
magnetism, of the region examined. 

Lastly, M'Olintock has convinced himself, that the 
best way of securing the passage of a ship from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific, is by following, as near as 
possible, the coast-line of North America: indeed, it 
is his opinion, founded upon a large experience, that 
no passage by a ship can ever be accomplished in a 
more northern direction. This, it is well known, was 
the favorite theory of Franklin, who had himself, 
along with Richardson, Back, Beechey, Dease, Simp- 
son and Rae, surveyed the whole of that same North 
American coast from the Back or Great Fish River 
to Behring Strait. Thus, when Franklin sailed in 
1845, the discovery of a North- West Passage wab 
reduced to the finding a link between the latter sux"- 
vey and the discoveries of Parry, who had already, 
to his great renown, opened the first half of a more 
northern course from east to west, when he was 

Franklin could not have reached the spot where his ships were 
"beset by proceediag down that ice-choked channel, but that he 
must have sailed down Peel Sound. 

* Much of this Appendix will be prepared by Dr. David 
Walker. 



PREFACE. 2l 

arrested by the impenetrable ice-barrier at Melville 
Island. 

And here it is to be remembered, that the tract 
in which the record and the relics have been found, 
is just that to which Lady Franklin herself specially 
directed Kenedy, the commander of the ' Prince Al- 
bert,' in her second private expedition in 1852 ; and 
had that intrepid explorer not been induced to search 
northward of Bellot Strait, but had felt himself able 
to follow the course indicated by his sagacious em- 
ployer, there can be no doubt, that much more satis- 
factory results would have been obtained than those 
which, after a lapse of seven years, have now been 
realized by the undaunted perseverance of Lady 
Franklin, and the skill and courage of M'Clintock. 

The natural modesty of this commander has, I am 
bound to say, prevented his doing common justice, 
in the following journal, to his own conduct — con- 
duct which can be estimated by those only who have 
listened to the testimony of the officers serving with 
and under the man, whose great qualities in moments 
of extreme peril elicited their heartiest admiration and 
ensured their perfect confidence. 

In writing this Preface (which I do at the request 
of the promoters of the last search), I may state that, 
having occupied the Chair of the Eoyal Geographical 
Society in 1845, when my cherished friend, Sir John 
Franklin, went forth for the third time to seek. a 
North- West passage, it became my bound en duty, in 
subsequent years, when % his absence created much 
anxiety, and when I reoccupied the same position, 



22 PREFACE. 

ardently to promote the employment of searching ex- 
peditions, and warmly to sustain Lady Franklin's 
endeavors in this holy cause. 

Imbued with such feelings, I must be permitted 
to say, that no event in my life gave me purer delight 
than when Captain Collinson, whose labors to support 
and carry out this last search have been signally ser- 
viceable, forwarded to me a telegram to be communi- 
cated to the British Association at Aberdeen an- 
nouncing the success of M'Clintock. That document 
reached Balmoral on the 22d of September last, when 
the men of science were invited thither by their 
Sovereign. Great was the satisfaction caused by the 
diffusion of these good tidings among my. associates 
(the distinguished Arctic explorers Admiral Sir James 
Eoss and General Sabine being present) ; and it was 
most cheering to us to know, that the Queen and our 
Eoyal President* took the deepest interest in this 
intelligence — such as, indeed, they have always evinced 
whenever the search for the missing navigators has 
been brought under their consideration. The imme- 



* At the Aberdeen meeting the Prince Consort thus spoke : 
"The Aberdeen whaler braves the icy regions of the Polar Sea 
to seek and to battle with the great monster of the deep ; he 
lias materially assisted in opening these icebound regions to the 
researches of science ; he fearlessly aided in the search after 
Sir John Franklin and his gallant companions whom their 
country sent forth on this mission ; but to whom Providence 
alas ! has denied the reward of their labors, the return to their 
homes, to the affectionate embrace of their families and friends, 
and the acknowledgments of a grateful nation." 



PREFACE. 23 

diate bestowal of the Arctic medal upon all the offi- 
cers and men of the ' Fox ' is a pleasing proof that 
this interest is well sustained. 

But these few introductory sentences must not be 
extended ; and I invite the reader at once to peruse 
the Journal of M'Clintock, which will gratify every 
lover of truthful and ardent research, though it will 
leave him impressed with the sad belief, that the end 
of the companions of Franklin has been truly re- 
corded by the native Esquimaux, who saw these no- 
ble fellows "fall down and die as they walked along 
the ice." 

Looking to the fact, that little or no fresh food 
could have been obtained by the crews of the ' Ere- 
bus' and 'Terror' during their long imprisonment 
of twenty months, in so frightfully sterile a region as 
that in which the ships were abandoned — so sterile 
that it is even deserted by the Esquimaux — and also 
to the want of sustenance in spring at the mouth pf 
the Back Eiver, all the Arctic naval authorities with 
whom I have conversed, coincide with M'Clintock 
and his associates in the belief, that none of the miss- 
ing navigators can now be living. 

Painful as is the realization of this tragic event, let 
us now dwell only on the reflection that, while the 
North- West passage has been solved by the heroic 
self-sacrifice of Franklin, Crozier, Fitzjames, and their 
associates, the searches after them, which are now 
terminated, have, at a very small loss of life, not only 
added prodigiously to geographical knowledge, but 
have, in times of peace, been the best school for test- 



24 PREFACE. 

ing, by the severest trials, the skill and endurance of 
many a brave seaman. In her hour of need — should 
need arise — England knows that such men will nobly 
do their duty. 

EODERICK I. MURCHISON". 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Cause of delay in equipment— Fittings of the 'Fox' — Volunteers for 
Arctic service — Assistance from public departments — Reflections upon 
the undertaking — Instructions and departure — Orkneys and Greenland 
— Fine Arctic senery — Danish establishments in Greenland — Frederick- 
shaabj in Davis's Straits Page 31 

CHAPTER II. 

Fiskernaes and Esquimaux — The 'Fox' reaches Disco — Disco Fiord — 
Summer scenery — Waigat Strait — Coaling from the mine — Purchasing 
Esquimaux dogs — Heavy gale off Upernivik — Melville Bay — The 
middle ice — The great glacier of Greenland — Reindeer cross the 
glacier 47 

CHAPTER III. 

Melville Bay — Beset in Melville Bay — Signs of winter — The coming storm 
■ — Drifting in the pack — Canine appetite — Resigned to a winter in the 
pack — Dinner stolen by sharks — The Arctic shark — White whales and 
killers 58 

CHAPTER IV. 

Snow crystals — Dog will not eat raven — An Arctic school — The dogs in- 
vade us — Bear-hunting by night — Ice-artillery — Arctic palates — Sudden 
rise of temperature — Harvey's idea of a sortie 70 

CHAPTER V. 

Burial in the pack — Musk oxen in lat. 80° north — Thrift, of the Arctic 
fox — The aurora affects the electrometer — An Arctic Christmas — Suf- 
ferings of Dr. Kane's party — Ice acted on by wind only — How the sun 
ought to be welcomed — Constant action of the ice — Return of the seals 
— Revolving storm T! 

(25) 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 



A bear-fight — An ice-nip — Strong gales, rapid drift — The 'Fox' breaks 
out of the pack — Hanging on to floe-edge — The Arctic Bear — An ice 
tournament — The 'Pox' in peril — A storm in the pack — Escape from 



the pack. 



CHAPTER VII. 

A holiday in Greenland — A lady blue with cold — The loves of Green- 
landers — Close shaviug — Meet the whalers — Information of whalers — 
Disco— Danish hospitality — Sail from Disco — Kindness of tho whalers 
— Danish establishments in Greenland 106 

CHAPTER VIII. 

'Pox' nearly wrecked — Afloat, and push ahead — Arctic hairbreadth es- 
capes — Nearly caught in the pack — Shooting little auks — The Arctic 
Highlanders — Cape York — Crimson snow — Struggling to the westward 
— Reach the "West-land — Off the entrance of Lancaster Sound 117 

CHAPTER IX. 

Off Cape Warrender — Sight the whalers again — Enter Pond's Bay — Com- 
municate with Esquimaux — Ascend Pond's Inlet — Esquimaux informa- 
tion — Arctic summer abode — An Arctic village — No intelligence of 
Franklin's ships — Arctic trading — Geographical information of natives 
— Information of Rae's visit — Improvidence of Esquimaux — Travels of 
Esquimaux .....129 

CHAPTER X. 

Leave Pond's Bay — A gale in Lancaster Sound — The Beechcy Island 
Depot — An Arctic monument — Reflections at Beechey Island — Proceed 
up Barrow's Strait — Peel Sound — Port Leopold — Prince Regent's Inlet 
— Bellot Strait — Flood-tide from the west — Unsuccessful efforts — Fox's 
Hole — No water to the west — Precautionary measures — Fourth attempt 
to pass through .144 

CHAPTER XL 

Proceed westward in a boat — Cheerless state of the western sea — Strug- 
gles in Bellot Strait — Falcons, good Arctic fare— The resources of 
Boothia Felix — Future sledge traveling — Heavy gales — Hobson's 
party start — Winter quarters — Bellot's Strait — Advanced dep&t estab- 
lished — Observatories — Intense cold — Autumn travelers — Narrow es- 
cape 160 



CONTENTS. 2T 

CHAPTER XII. 

Death of our engineer — Scarcity of game — The cold unusually trying — 
Jolly, under adverse circumstances — Petersen's information — Return 
of the sun of 1859 — Early spring sledge parties — Unusual severity of 
the winter — Severe hardships of early sledging — The western shores of 
Boothia — Meet the Esquimaux — Intelligence of Franklin's ships — Re- 
turn to the 'Pox' — Allen Young returns , 173 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Dr. Walker's sledge journey — Snow-blindness attacks Young's party — 
Departure of all sledge-parties — Equipment of sledge-parties — Meet the 
samo party of natives — Intelligence of the second ship — My depSt 
robbed — Part company with Hobson — Matty Island — Deserted snow- 
huts — Native sledges — Land on King William's Land 191 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Meet Esquimaux — News of Franklin's people — Frighten a solitary party 
— Reach the Great Fish River — On Montreal Island — Total absence of 
all relics — Examine Ogle Peninsula — Discover a skeleton — Vagueness 
of Esquimaux information — Cape Herschel — Cairn 204 

CHAPTER XV. 

The cairn found empty — Discover Hobson's letter — Discovery of Cro- 
zier's record — The deserted boat — Articles discovered about the boat — • 
The skeleton and relics — The boat belonged to the 'Erebus' — Conjec- 
tures 217 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Errors in Franklin's records — Relics found at the cairn — Reflections on 
the retreat — Returning homeward — Geological remarks — Difficulties of 
summer sledging — Arrive on board the 'Fox' — Navigable N. W. Pas. 
sage — Death from scurvy — Anxiety for Captain Young — Young returns 
safely 231 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Signs of release — Dearth of animal life — Owl is good beef — Beat out of 
winter quarters — Our game-list — Reach Fury Beach — Escape from Re- 
gent's Inlet — In Baffin's Bay — Captain Allen Young's journey — Disco; 
sad disappointment — Part from our Esquimaux friends — Adieu to 
Greenland — Arrive home 246 

Conclusion 262 



28 CONTENTS. 

APPENDIX. 

No. I. — A Letter to Viscount Palmerston, K. G-., &c, from Lady Frank- 
lin , Page 265 

No. II. — Memorial to the Right Hon. Viscount Palmerston, M. P., 
G. C. B 274 

No. III. — List of Relics of the Franklin Expedition brought to England 
in the ' Fox* by Captain M'Clintock. 279 

No. TV. — Geological Account of the Arctic Archipelago, by Professor 
Haughton 286 

No. V. — List of subscribers to the 'Fox' Expedition ,,...316 



LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The 'Fox' steaming out of the Rolling Pack. Drawn 

by Captain May Frontispiece. 

Sketch Map of the Drift of the 'Fox' down Baffin's Bay 

in the floating Ice To face page 36 

Sketch Map of Arctic Regions at the time of Franklin's On back of large 

Last Expedition map front. 

A Funeral on the Ice — the effect of Paraselena (Mock 

Moons). Drawn by Captain May — 82 

The Greenlander's Supper appropriated by a Bear. 

Ditto — 100 

The ' Fox ' on a Rock near Buchan Island. Ditto — 118 

A Bog Sledge or Scout Party — 200 

Esquimaux imitating animals to induce Europeans to 

approach. From a sketch by Captain Allen Young. — 123 

The Village and Glacier of Kaparok-to-lik. Drawn by 

Captain May — 135 

The 'Fox' arriving at Beechey Island. Ditto — 14.5 

M'Clintock in his Boat passing through Bellot Strait. 

Ditto — 160 

Interior of the Observatory. Ditto — 200 

Moonlight in the Arctic Regions. Ditto — 144 

M'Clintock's Traveling Party discovering the Remains 

of Cairn at Cape Herschel. Drawn by Captain 

May — 213 

Facsimile of the Record found of Franklin's Expedi- On back of large 

tion map front. 

Isolated Iceberg. Drawn by P. Skelton, from a Sketch 

by Captain Allen Young — 236 

"Walrusses — a Family Party. From a Sketch by Cap- 
tain Allen Young — 206 

Cape Bunny,Peel Sound — 290 

Map of the North-West Passage, by John Arrowsmith, 

F.R.G.S ; At the front. 

(29) 



JOURNAL OF THE SEARCH 



SIE JOHN FEANKLIN, 



CHAPTER I, 



Cause of delay in equipment — Fittings of the 'Fox' — Volunteers Tor 
Arctic service — Assistance from public departments — Reflections ti r :>n 
the undertaking — Instructions and departure — Orkneys and Greei- 
land — Fine Arctic scenery — Danish establishments in Greenland— 
Frederickshaab, in Davis' Straits. 

It is now a matter of history how Government and pri- 
vate expeditions prosecuted, with unprecedented zeal and 
perseverance, the search for Sir John Franklin's ships, be- 
tween the years 1841-55 ; and that the only ray of infor- 
mation gleaned was that afforded by the inscriptions upon 
three tombstones at Beechey Island, briefly recording the 
names and dates of the deaths of those individuals of the 
lost expedition, who thus early fell in the cause of science 
and of their country. 

In this manner were we made aware of the locality where 
the Franklin expedition passed its first Arctic winter. The 
traces assuring us of that fact, were discovered in August, 
1850, by Captain Ommanney, R. U., of H. M. S. ' As- 
sistance,' and by Captain Penny, of the ' Lady Franklin.' 

In October, 1854, Dr. Rae brought home the only addi- 

(31) 



32 EORMER EXPEDITIONS. Chap. I. 

tional information respecting thern which has ever reached 
us. From the Esquimaux of Boothia Felix he learned that 
a party of about forty white men were met on the west coast 
of King William's Island, and from thence traveled on to the 
mouth of the Great Fish River, where they all perished 
of starvation, and that this tragic event occurred apparently 
in the spring of 1850. 

Some relics obtained from these natives, and brought home 
by Dr. Rae, were proved to have belonged to Sir John 
Franklin and several of his associates. 

The Government caused an exploring party to descend 
the Fish River in 1855 ; but, although sufficient traces were 
found to prove that some portion of the crews of the ' Ere- 
bus' and ' Terror' had actually landed on the bank of that 
river, and traces existed of them up to Franklin Rapids, no 
additional information was obtained either from the dis- 
covery of records, or through the Esquimaux. Mr. Ander- 
son, the Hudson Bay Company's officer in charge, and his 
small party, deserve credit for their perseverance and skill ; 
but they were not furnished with the necessary means of ac- 
complishing their mission. Mr. Anderson could not ob- 
tain an interpreter, and the two frail bark canoes in which 
his whole party embarked were almost worn out before they 
reached the locality to be searched. It is not surprising 
that such an expedition caused very considerable excitement 
at home. 

Lady Franklin, and the advocates for further search, now 
pressed upon Government the necessity of following up, 
in a more effectual manner, the traces accidentally found by 
Dr. Rae, and, in fact, of rendering the seach complete by 
one more effort, involving but little of hazard or expense. 
It was not until April, 185*7, that any decisive answer was 
given to Lady Franklin's appeal. (See Appendix No. 1.) 

Sir Charles Wood then stated " that the members of Her 
Majesty's Government, having come, with great regret, to 



Apr. 1857. CAUSE OP DELAY IN EQUIPMENT. 3 

the conclusion that there was no prospect of saving life, 
would not be justified, for any objects which in their 
opinion could be obtained by an expedition to the Arctic 
seas, in exposing the lives of officers and men to the risk 
inseparable from such an enterprise." 

Lady Franklin, upon this final disappointment of her 
hopes, had no hesitation in immediately preparing to send 
out a searching expedition, equipped and stored at her own 
cost. But she was not left alone. Many friends of the 
cause — including some of the most distinguished scientific 
men in England,* and especially Sir Roderick Murchison, 
whose zeal was as practical as it was enlightened — hastened 
to tender their aid, and soon a very considerable sum was 
raised in furtherance of so truly noble an effort. 

On the 18th of April, 185T, Lady Franklin did me the 
honor to offer me the command of the proposed expedition ; 
it was of course most cheerfully accepted. As a post of 
honor and some difficulty, it possessed quite sufficient 
charms for a naval officer who had already served in three 
consecutive expeditions from 1848 to 1854. I was thor- 
oughly conversant with all the details of this peculiar ser- 
vice ; and I confess, moreover, that my whole heart was in 
the cause. How could I do otherwise than devote myself 
to save at least the record of faithful service, even unto 
death, of my brother officers and seamen ? and, being one 
of those by whose united efforts not only the Franklin 
search, but the Geography of Arctic America, has been 
brought so nearly to completion, I could not willingly re- 
sign to posterity the honor of filling up even the small re- 
maining blank upon our maps. 

To leave these discoveries incomplete, more especially in 
a quarter through which the tidal stream actually demon- 
strates the existence of a channel — the only remaining hope 

* A list of them and their subscriptions to be given in Appendix. 
3 



34 NOMINATION OF COMMA#DER. Chap. L 

of a practicable north-west passage — would indeed be leav- 
ing strong inducements for future explorers to reap the 
rich reward of our long-continued exertions. 

I immediately applied to the Admiralty for leave of ab- 
sence to complete the Franklin search; and on the 23d re- 
ceived at Dublin the telegraphic message from Lady Frank- 
lin : "Your leave is granted ; the ' Fox' is mine; the refit 
will commence immediately." She had already purchased 
the screw-yacht -'Fox,' of ITT tons burthen, and now 
placed her, together with the necessary funds, at my 
disposal. 

Let me explain what is here implied by the simple word 
refit. The velvet hangings and splendid furniture of the 
yacht, and also everything not constituting a part of the 
vessel's strengthening, were to be removed ; the large sky- 
lights and capacious ladderways had to be reduced to limits 
more adapted to a polar clime ; the whole vessel to be ex- 
ternally sheathed with stout planking, and internally fortified 
by strong cross-beams, longitudinal beams, iron stanchions, 
and diagonal fastenings ; the false keel taken off, the slender 
brass propeller replaced by a massive iron one, the boiler 
taken out, altered and enlarged ; the sharp stem to be 
cased in iron until it resembled a ponderous chisel set up 
edgeways ; even the yacht's rig had to be altered. 

She was placed in the hands of her builders, Messrs. 
Hall & Co., of Aberdeen, who displayed even more than 
their usual activity in effecting these necessary alterations, 
for it was determined that the ' Fox' should sail by the 
1st July. 

Internally she was fitted up with the strictest economy 
in every sense, and the officers were crammed into pigeon- 
holes, styled cabins, in order to make room for provisions 
and stores ; our mess-room, for five persons, measured 
eight feet square. The ordinary heating apparatus for 
winter use was dispensed with, and its place supplied by a 



Apr. 1857. FITTINGS OF THE 'FOX.' 35 

few very small stoves. The 'Fox' had been the property 
of the late Sir Richard Stratton, Bart., who made but one 
trip to Norway in her, and she was purchased by Lady 
Franklin from his executors for £2000. 

Having thus far commenced the refit of the vessel, I 
turned my attention to the selection of a crew, and to the 
requisite clothing and provisions for our voyage. 

Many worthy old shipmates, my companions in the pre 
vious Arctic voyages, most readily volunteered their ser- 
vices, and they were as cheerfully accepted, for it was my 
anxious wish to gather round me well-tried men, who were 
aware of the duties expected of them, and accustomed to 
naval discipline. Hence, out of the twenty-five souls compos- 
ing our small company, seventeen had previously served in 
the Arctic search. 

Expeditions of this kind are always popular with sea- 
men, and innumerable were the applications sent to me ; 
but still more abundant were the offers to " serve in any 
capacity," which poured in from all parts of the country, 
from ^people of all classes, many of whom had never seen 
the sea. It was, of course, impossible to accede to any of 
these latter proposals, yet, for my own part, I could not 
but feel gratified at such convincing proofs that the spirit 
of the country was favorable to us, and that the ardent 
love of hardy enterprise still lives amongst Englishmen, as 
of old, to be cherished, I trust, as the most valuable of our 
national characteristics — as that which has so largely con- 
tributed to make England what she is. 

My second in command was Lieutenant W. R. Hobson, 
R.N., an officer already distinguished in Arctic service. 
Captain Allen Young joined me as sailing-master, con- 
tributing not only his valuable services but largely of his 
private funds to the expedition. This gentleman had pre- 
viously commanded some of our very finest merchant ships, 
the latest being the steam-transport " Adelaide" of 2500 



36 OFFICERS OF THE EXPEDITION. Chap. I. 

tons : he had but recently returned, in ill health, from the 
Black Sea, where he was most actively employed during 
the greater part of the Crimean campaign. Nothing that 
I could say would add to the merit of such singularly gene- 
rous and disinterested conduct. David Walker, M.D., 
volunteered for the post of surgeon and naturalist ; he also 
undertook the photographic department; and just before 
sailing, Carl Petersen, now so well known to Arctic readers 
as the Esquimaux interpreter in the expeditions of Captain 
Penny and Dr. Kane, came to join me from Copenhagen, 
although landed there from Greenland only six days pre- 
viously, after an absence of a year from his family : we were 
indebted to Sir Roderick Murchison and the electric tele- 
graph for securing his valuable services. 

Like the Paris omnibuses we were at length tout complet, 
and quite as anxious to make a start. 

Ample provisions for twenty-eight months were embarked, 
including preserved vegetables, lemon-juice, and pickles, 
for daily consumption, and preserved meats for every third 
day : also as much of Messrs. Allsopp's stoutest ale as we 
could find room for. The Government, although declining 
to send out an expedition, yet now contributed liberally to 
our supplies. All our arms, powder, shot, powder for ice- 
blasting, rockets, maroons, and signal mortar, were fur- 
nished by the Board of Ordnance. The Admiralty caused 
6682 lbs. of pemmican to be prepared for our use. Not 
less than 85,000 lbs. of this invaluable food have been pre- 
pared since 1845 at the Royal Clarence Victualing Yard, 
Gosport, for the use of the Arctic Expeditions. It is com- 
posed of prime beef cut into thin slices and dried over a 
wood fire ; then pounded up and mixed with about an 
equal weight of melted beef fat. The pemmican is then 
pressed into cases capable of containing 42 lbs. each. The 
Admiralty supplied us with all the requisite ice-gear, such 
as saws from ten to eighteen feet in length, ice-anchors, and 



Fia. 1. 




SKETCH MAP OF THE DRIFT OP THE ' FOX' DOWN BAFFIN'S BAY IS 
TUB FLOATING ICE- 



Apr. 1857. ASSISTANCE FROM PUBLIC DEPARTMENTS. 39 

ice-claws : also with our winter housing, medicines, pure 
lemon-juice, seamen's library, hydrographical instruments, 
charts, chronometers, and an ample supply of arctic clothing 
which had remained in store from former expeditions. The 
Board of Trade contributed a variety of meteorological and 
nautical instruments and journals ; and I found that I had 
but to ask of these departments for what was required, and 
if in store it was at once granted. I asked, however, only 
for such things as were indispensably necessary. 

The President and Council of the Royal Society voted 
the sum of 501. from their donation fund for the purchase 
of magnetic and other scientific instruments, in order that 
our anticipated approach to so interesting a locality as the 
Magnetic Pole might not be altogether barren of results. 

Being desirous to retain for my vessel the privileges she 
formerly enjoyed as a yacht, my wishes were very promptly 
gratified ; in the first instance by the Royal Harwich Yacht 
Club, of which my officers and myself were enrolled as 
members — the Commodore, A. Arcedeckne, Esq., present- 
ing my vessel with the handsome ensign and burgee of the 
Club; and shortly afterwards by my being elected a member 
of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club for the period of my 
voyage. Lastly, upon the very day of sailing, I was pro- 
posed for the Royal Yacht Squadron, to which the yacht 
had previously belonged when the property of Sir Richard 
Stratton. 

Throughout the whole period required for our equipment, 
I constantly experienced the heartiest co-operation and 
earnest good will from all with whom my varied duties 
Drought me in contact. Deep sympathy with Lady Frank- 
in in her distress, her self-devotion and sacrifice of fortune, 
and an earnest desire to extend succor to any chance sur- 
vivors of the ill-fated expedition who might still exist, or 
at least, to ascertain their fate, and rescue from oblivion 
■neir heroic deeds, seemed the natural promptings of every 



40 EA.DY FRANKLIN'S VISIT. Chap. I. 

honest English heart. It is needless to add that this ex- 
perience of public opinion confirmed my own impression 
that the glorious mission intrusted to me was in reality a 
great national duty. I could not but feel that, if the 
gigantic and admirably equipped national expeditions sent 
out on precisely the same duty, and reflecting so much 
credit upon the Board of Admiralty, were ranked amongst 
the noblest efforts in the cause of humanity any nation ever 
engaged in, and that, if high honor was awarded to all com- 
posing those splendid expeditions, surely the effort became 
still more remarkable and worthy of approbation when its 
means were limited to one little vessel, containing but 
twenty-five souls, equipped and provisioned (although effi- 
ciently, yet) in a manner more according with the limited 
resources of a private individual than with those of the 
public purse. The less the means, the more arduous I felt 
was the achievement. The greater the risk — for the 'Fox' 
was to be launched alone into those turbulent seas from 
which every other vessel had long since been withdrawn — 
the more glorious would be the success, the more honorable 
even the defeat, if again defeat awaits us. 

Upon the last day of June, Lady Franklin, accompanied 
by* her niece Miss Sophia Cracroft, and Capt. Maguire, 
R. !N\, came on board to bid us farewell, for we purposed 
sailing in the evening. Seeing how deeply agitated she 
was on leaving the ship, I endeavored to repress the enthu- 
siasm of my crew, but without avail ; it found vent in three 
prolonged, hearty cheers. The strong feeling which prompted 
them was truly sincere ; and this unbidden exhibition of it 
can hardly have gratified her for whom it was intended 
more than it did myself. 

I must here insert the only written instructions I could 
pievail upon Lady Franklin to give me ; they were not 
read until the ' Fox ' was fairly in the Atlantic. 



Jcne, 1857. LACY FRANKLIN'S INSTRUCTIONS. 41 

Aberdeen. June 29, 185T- 
My dear Captain M'Clintock, 

Tou have kindly invited me to give you "Instruc- 
tions," but I cannot bring myself to feel that it would be 
right in me in any way to influence your judgment in the 
conduct of your noble undertaking ; and indeed I have no 
temptation to do so, since it appears to me that your views 
are almost identical with those which I had independently 
formed before I had the advantage of being thoroughly 
possessed of yours. But had this been otherwise, I trust 
you would have fomid me ready to prove the implicit confi< 
dence I place in you by yielding my own views to your 
more enlightened judgment ; knowing too as I do that your 
whole heart also is in the cause, even as my own is. As to 
the objects of the expedition and their relative importance, 
I am sure you know that the rescue of any possible sur- 
vivor of the 'Erebus' and 'Terror' would be to me, as it 
would be to you, the noblest result of our efforts. 

To this object I wish every other to be subordinate ; and 
next to it in importance is the recovery of the unspeakably 
precious documents of the expedition, public and private, 
and the personal relics of my dear husband and his com- 
panions. 

And lastly, I trust it may be in your power to confirm, 
directly or inferentially, the claims of my husband's expedi- 
tion to the earliest discovery of the passage, which, if Dr. 
Rae's report be true (and the Government of our country 
has accepted and rewarded it as such), these martyrs in a 
noble cause achieved at their last extremity, after five long 
years of labor and suffering, if not at an earlier period. 

I am sure yon will do all that man can do for the attain- 
ment of all these objects ; my only fear is that you may 
Bpend yourselves too much in the effort ; and you must 
therefore let me tell you how much dearer to me even than 



42 ORKNEYS AND GREENLAND. Chap. I. 

any of them is the preservation of the valuable lives of the 
little band of heroes who are your companions and fol- 
lowers. 

May God in his great mercy preserve you all from harm 
amidst the labors and perils which await you, and restore 
you to us in health and safety as well as honor ! As to the 
honor I can have no misgiving. It will be yours as much 
if you fail (since you may fail in spite of every effort) as if 
you succeed; and be assured that, under any and all cir- 
cumsta?ices whatever, such is my unbounded confidence in 
you, you will ever possess and be entitled to the enduring 
gratitude of your sincere and attached friend, 

Jane Franklin. 

We were not destined to get to sea that evening. The 
' Fox,' hitherto during her brief career, accustomed only to 
the restraint imposed upon a gilded pet in summer seas, 
seemed to have got an inkling that her duty henceforth was 
to combat with difficulties, and, entering fully into the 
spirit of the cruise, answered her helm so much more 
readily than the pilot expected that she ran aground upon 
the bar. She was promptly shored up, and remained in that 
position until next morning, when she floated off unhurt at 
high water, and commenced her long and lonely voyage. 

Scarcely had we left the busy world behind us when we 
were actively engaged in making arrangements for present 
comfort and future exertion. How busy, how happy, and 
how full of hope we all were then ! 

On the night of the 2d of July we passed through the 
Pentland Firth, where the tide rushing impetuously against 
a strong wind raised up a tremendous sea, amid which 
the little vessel struggled bravely under steam and canvas. 
The bleak wild shores of Orkney, the still wilder pilot's 
crew, and their hoarse screams and unintelligible dialect, 
the shrill cry of innumerable sea-birds, the howling breeze 



July, 1857. SPITZBERGEN ICE, 43 

and angry sea, made us feel as if we had suddenly awoke in 
Greenland itself. The southern extremity of that ice-locked 
continent became visible on the 12th. It is quaintly named 
Cape Farewell ; but whether by some sanguine outward- 
bound adventurer who fancied that in leaving Greenland 
behind him he had already secured his passage to Cathay/; 
or whether by the wearied homesick mariner, feebly escaping 
from the grasp of winter in his shattered bark, and firmly 
purposing to bid a long farewell to this cheerless land, his- 
tory altogether fails to enlighten us. 

From January until July this coast is usually rendered 
unapproachable by a broad margin of heavy ice, which 
drifts there from the vicinity of Spitzbergen, and, lapping 
round the Cape, extends alongshore to the northward about 
as far as Baal's River, a distance of 250 miles. Although 
it effectually blockades the ports of South Greenland for 
the greater part of the summer, and is justly dreaded by 
the captains of the Greenland traders, it confers important 
benefits upon the Greenlander by bearing to his shores im- 
mense numbers of seals and many bears. The same current 
which convsys hither all this ice is also freighted with a 
scarcely less valuable supply of driftwood from the Siberian 
rivers. 

About this time, one of my crew showing symptoms of 
diseased lungs, I determined to embrace the earliest oppor- 
tunity of sending him home out of a climate so fatal to 
those who are thus affected ; and having learnt from Mr. 
Petersen, who had quitted Greenland only in April last, 
that a vessel would very soon leave Frederickshaab for Co- 
penhagen, I resolved to go to that place in order to catch 
this homeward-bound ship. 

It was necessary to push through the Spitzbergen ice, and 
we fortunately succeeded in doing so after eighteen hours 
of buffeting with this formidable enemy ; at first we found 
it tolerably loose, and the wind being strong and favorable, 



44 FINE ARCTIC SCENERY. Chap. I. 

we thumped along pleasantly enough ; but as we advanced, 
the ice became much more closely packed, a thick fog came 
on, and many hard knocks were exchanged ; at length our 
steam carried us through into the broad belt of clear water 
between the ice and land, which Petersen assures me always 
exists here at this season. 

The dense fog now prevented further progress, and as 
evening closed in I gave up all hope of improvement for 
the night, when suddenly the fog rolled back upon the 
land, disclosing some islets close to us, then the rugged 
points of mainland, and at length, lifting altogether, the 
distant snowy mountain-peaks against a deep blue sky. 

The evening became bright and delightful ; the whole 
extent of coast was fringed with innumerable islets, backed 
by lofty mountains, and, being richly tinted by a glorious 
western sun, formed an unusually splendid sight. Green- 
land unveiled to our anxious gaze that memorable evening, 
all the magnificence of her natural beauty. "Was it to wel- 
come us that she thus cast off her dingy outer mantle, and 
shone forth radiant with smiles f — such winning smiles ! 

A faint streak of mist, which we could not account for, 
appeared to float across a low, wide interval in the mountain 
range ; the telescope revealed its true character,. — it was 
a portion of the distant glacier. We found ourselves upoo 
the Tallard Bank, 30 miles north of our port, having been 
rapidly carried northwards by the Spitzbergen current. 

July 20th. — This morning the chief trader of the settle- 
ment, or, as he is more usually styled by the English, the 
Governor, came off to us, and his pilot soon conducted us 
into the safe little harbor of Frederickshaab. I was much 
gratified to learn that we were just in time to secure a pas- 
sage home for our ailing shipmate. 

For trading purposes Greenland is monopolized by the 
Danish Government ; its Esquimaux and mixed population 
amount to about 1000 souls. About 1000 Danes reside 



July, 1857. DANISH ESTABLISHMENTS. 45 

constantly there for the purpose of conducting the trade, 
which consists almost exclusively in the exchange of Euro- 
pean goods for oil and the skins of seals, reindeer, and a 
few other animals. 

The Esquimaux are not subject to Danish laws, but 
although proud of their nominal independence they are 
6incerely attached to the Danes, and with abundant reason; 
a Lutheran clergyman, a doctor, and a schoolmaster, whose 
duty it is to give gratuitous instruction and relief, are paid 
by the Government, and attached to each district; and 
when these improvident people are in distress, which not 
^infrequently happens during the long winters, provisions 
are issued to them free of cost ; spirits are strictly pro- 
hibited. All of them have become Christians, and many 
can read and write. 

Have we English done more, or as much, for the abo- 
rigines in any of our numerous colonies, and especially for 
the Esquimaux within our own territories of Labrador and 
Hudson's Bay ? 

Greenland is divided into two inspectorates, the northern 
and southern ; the inspector of the latter division, Dr. Rink, 
had arrived at Frederickshaab upon his summer round of 
visits only the day previous to ourselves. He came on 
board to call upon me, and after Divine service I landed, 
and enjoyed a ramble with him over the moss-clad hills. 
Our first meeting was in North Greenland, in 1848 ; we 
had not seen one another since, so we had much to talk 
about. Dr. Rink is a gentleman of acknowledged talent, a . 
distinguished traveler, and is thoroughly conversant with the 
sciences of geology and botiny. 

Unfortunately for me his excellent work on Greenland 
has not been translated into English. 

We were kindly permitted to purchase eight tons of coals, 
and such small things as were required ; the only fresh sup- 
plies to be obtained beside codfish, which was abundant, 



46 PEEDERICKSHAAB. DAVIS' STRAITS. Chap. I. 

consisted of a very few ptarmigan and hares, and a couple 
of kids ; these last are scarce. Some goats exist, but for 
eight months out of the year they are shut up in a house, 
and even now — in midsummer — are only let out in the 
daytime. We also purchased of the Esquimaux some speci- 
mens of Esquimaux workmanship, such as models of the 
native dresses, kayaks, etc., also birds' skins and eggs. I 
saw fine specimens of a white swan, and of a bird said to 
be extremely rare in Greenland — it was a species of grebe, 
Podiceps cristatus, I imagine. Frederickshaab is just now 
well supplied with wood : besides an nnseaworthy brig, the 
wreck of a large timber-ship lay on the beach, and an 
abandoned timber-vessel, which was met with between Ice- 
land and Greenland in July by Prince Napoleon, drifted 
upon the coast 30 miles to the northward in the following 
September. 



July, 1857. LICHTENFELS. 4-T 



CHAPTER II. 

Fiskernaes and Esquimaux — The ' Fox ' reaches Disco — Disco Fiord - 
Summer scenery — Waigat Strait — Coaling from the mine — Purchas- 
ing Esquimaux dogs — Heavy gale off Upernivik — Melville Bay — 
The middle ice — The great glacier of Greenland — Reindeer cross 
the glacier. 

23d July. — Sailed the day before yesterday for Godhaab. 
The fog was thick, and wind strong and contrary, but tha 
current being favorable we found ourselves off the small 
out-station of Fiskernaes, when early this morning our for© 
topmast was carried away ; this accident induced me to run 
in and anchor for the purpose of repairing the damage. 

After passing within the outer islets, the Moravian settle- 
ment of Lichtenfels came in view upon the right hand ; it 
consists of a large, sombre-looking wooden house, over 
which is a belfry, a smaller wooden house, and about a 
dozen native huts, roofed with sods, and scarcely distinguish- 
able from the ground they stand on, even at a very short 
distance. The land immediately behind is a barren rocky 
steep, now just sufficiently denuded of snow to look deso- 
late in the extreme. A strong tide was setting out of tha 
fiord as we approached, and anchored in the rofiky little 
cove of Fiskernaes ; here we were not only sheltered from 
the wind, but the steep dark rocks within a ship's length on 
each side of us, reflected a strong heat, whilst large mosqui- 
toes lost no time in paying us their annoying visits. This 
remote spot has been visited by the Arctic voyagers, Cap- 
tain Inglefield, R.N., and Dr. Kane, U.S.N'., and still 
more recently by Prince Napoleon. Dr. Kane's account 



48 EISKERNAES. Chap. II. 

of his visit is full and very interesting. Cod-fishing was 
now in full activity, and the few men not so employed had 
gone up the fiord to hunt reindeer. 

The solitary dwelling-house belongs, of course, to the 

chief trader, and is a model of cleanliness and order; built 

of wood, it exhibits all the resources of the painter's art; 

the exterior is a dull red, the window-frames are white, 

floors yellow, wooden partitions and low ceilings pale blue. 

The lady of the house had resided here for about eight 

years, and appeared to us to be, and acknowledged she 

was, heartily tired of the solitude. She gave me coffee, 

and some seeds for cultivation at our winter quarters ; these 

were lettuce, spinach, turnips, carraway and peas, the latter 

being the common kind used on board ship ; usually they 

have only produced leaves on this spot, but once the young 

peas grew large enough for the table. I expressed a wish 

to see the interior of an Esquimaux tent. Petersen pulled 

aside the thin membrane of some animal which hung across 

the doorway, and served to exclude the wind, but admitted 

light, for, although past midnight, the sun was up. Some 

seven or eight individuals lay within, closely packed upon 

the ground ; the heads of old and young, males and females, 

being just visible above the common covering. Going to 

bed here, only means lying down with your clothes on, upon 

a reindeer skin, wherever you can find room, and pulling 

another fur -robe over you. 

Fiskernaes appeared to be a sunny little nook, yet all the 
people we saw there were suffering from colds and coughs, 
and many deaths had occurred during the spring. The 
boys brought us handfuls of rough garnets, some of them 
as large as walnuts, receiving with evident satisfaction bis- 
cuits in exchange. 

By next morning we were able to put to sea, and early 
on the day following arrived off the large settlement of 
Godhaab; it is in the "Gilbert Sound" of Davis, and 



July, 1857. THE 'FOX' REACHES DISCO. 49 

appears in many old charts as Baal's River. Almost ad- 
joining Godhaab is the Moravian settlement of New Herrn- 
hut. Here it was that Hans Egede, the missionary father 
of Greenland, established himself in IT 21, and thus re- 
opened the communication between Europe and Greenland, 
whi( h had ceased upon the extinction of its early Scandi- 
navian settlers, in the 14th century. 

A few years after Egede's successful beginning, the Mo- 
ravian mission still existing under the name of New Herrn- 
hut was established. At present the Moravians support 
four missions in Greenland ; they are not subject to the 
Danish authorities, but are not permitted in any way to 
trade. 

As we were about to enter the harbor, the Danish vessel 
—the sole object of our visit — came out, so not a moment 
was' lost in sending on board our invalid and our letter-bag, 
and in landing our coasting pilot. This man had brought 
us up from Frederickshaab for the very moderate sum of 
three pounds ; he was an Esquimaux, and, as the brother 
of poor Hans, Dr. Kane's unhappy dog-driver, was received 
with favor amongst us, and soon won our esteem by his 
quiet, obliging disposition, as also by his ability in the dis- 
charge of his duty ; he was so keensighted, and so vigilant, 
it was quite a comfort to have him oh board during the 
foggy weather, for he could recognise, on the instant, every 
rock or point, even when dimly looming through the mist. 
We were not long in discovering that his absence was a 
loss to us. 

"When passing out to the north of theKookornen Islands, 
the wind suddenly failed, and at the same time a swell from 
to seaward reached us ; we therefore had considerable diffi- 
culty in towing the ship clear of the rocks ; for nearly half 
an hour our position was most critical. 

July 31st. — Anchored at Godhaven (or Lievely), in 
Disco, for a few hours. I presented a letter from the Di- 
4 



50 DISCO FIORD. Chap. II. 

rectors of the Royal Greenland Commerce to the Inspector 
of North Greenland, Mr. Olrik, authorising him to furnish 
us with any needful supplies. Our only wants were sledge- 
dogs and a native to manage them. We soon obtained ten 
of the former, but were advised to go into Disco Fiord, 
where many of the Esquimaux were busy in taking and 
drying salmon-trout, and where some would most probably 
be obtained. 

I was much pleased with Mr. Olrik's kind reception of 
me, and soon found him to be not only agreeable but well 
informed ; born in Greenland, of Danish parents, he is 
thoroughly conversant with the language and habits of .the 
Esquimaux, and has devoted much of his leisure time in 
collecting rare specimens of the animal, vegetable, and 
mineral productions of the country. I came away enriched 
by some fossils from the fossil forest of Atanekerdluk, also 
with specimens of native coal. 

It was here I met with the late commanders of the 
whalers 'Gipsy' and 'Undaunted,' of Peterhead, which had 
been crushed by the ice in Melville Bay, five or six weeks 
previously ; all the other whalers had ' returned from the 
north, along the pack edge, and passed south of Disco. 
They said that the ice in Melville Bay was all broken up, 
and that they thought we should find but little difficulty at 
this late period in passing through it into the North Water. 

Leaving Godhaven in the afternoon with a native pilot, 
we found ourselves some 10 or 12 miles up Disco Fiord at 
an early hour next morning. After despatching the pilot 
to announce our arrival to his countrymen at their fishing 
station, T or 8 miles further up, the Doctor and I landed 
upon the north side to explore. 

The scenery is charming, lofty hills of trap rock, with 
unusually rich slopes (for the TOth parallel) descending to 
the fiord, and strewed with boulders of gneiss and granite. 
We found the blue campanula holding a conspicuous place 



Aug. 1857. CHRISTIAN, THE DOG-DRIVER. 51 

amongst the wild flowers. I do not know a more enticing 
spot in Greenland for a week's shooting, fishing, and yacht- 
ing than Disco Fiord ; hares and ptarmigan may be found 
along the bases of the hills ; ducks are most abundant upon 
the fiord, and delicious salmon-trout very plentiful in the 
rivers. Formerly Disco was famed for the large size and 
abundance of its reindeer ; but for some unexplained reason 
they now confine themselves to the mainland. 

At this season the natives of G-odhaab resort here and 
enjoy the trout fishery, — it is truly their season of harvest: 
the weather is pleasant, food delicious and abundant, and 
the labor an agreeable pastime. 

Some kayaks soon came off to the ship, bringing salmon- 
trout, both fresh and smoked. 

A young Esquimaux, named Christian, volunteered his 
services as our dog-driver, and was accepted ; he is about 
twenty-three years of age, unmarried, and an orphan. The 
men soon thoroughly washed and cropped him : soap and 
scissors being novelties to an Esquimaux : they then rigged 
him in sailor's clothes ; he was evidently not at home in 
them, but was not the less proud of his improved appearance, 
as reflected in the admiring glances of his countrymen. 

We now hastened away to the Waigat Strait to complete 
our coals. When passing Godhaven, the pilot was launched 
off our deck in his little kayak without stopping the ship ! 
As a kayak is usually about 18 feet long, 8 inches deep, and 
only 16 or IT inches wide, it requires great expertness to 
perform such a feat without the addition of a capsize. 

Mh August. — Entered the Waigat yesterday morning, 
slowly steaming through a sea of glass. Its surface was 
only rippled by the myriads of eider-ducks which extended 
over it for several miles : most of them were immature in 
plumage, and were probably the birds of last year. 

After running about twenty-four miles, toward evening 
we approached a low range of sandstone cliffs on the Disco 



52 COALING— WAIGAT SCENERY. Chap. IL 

shore, in which horizontal seams of coal were seen. Here 
we anchored, and immediately commenced coaling. It was 
fortunate we did so, for soon it began to blow hard ; and 
ere noon to-day we were obliged, for the safety of the 
ship, to leave our exposed anchorage, having however 
secured eight or nine tons of tolerable coal. Formerly 
these coal seams were worked for the supply of the neigh- 
boring settlements, but for several years past it has been 
found more profitable and convenient to send out coals ~ 
from Denmark, and thus permit the natives to devote their 
whole time to the seal-fishery. 

The Waigat scenery is unusually grand ; the strait varies 
from 3 to 5 leagues in width ; on each side are mountains 
of 3-000 feet in height. The Disco side, upon which we 
landed, is composed of trap, sandstone appearing only at 
the beach, and occasionally rising in cliffs to about 100 
feet. Upon the moss-clad slopes many fragments of quartz 
and zeolite were met with. The north end of Disco is 
almost a precipice to its snow-capped summit, which is 4000 
feet high. 

6th. — A pleasant fair wind carries us rapidly northward, 
passing many icebergs. Our rigging is richly garnished 
with split codfish, which we hoped would dry and keep ; 
but a warm day in Disco Fiord, and much rain with a south- 
erly gale in the Waigat, have destroyed it for our own use. 
It is however still valuable as food for our dogs. I am very 
anxious to complete my stock of these our native auxilia- 
ries, as without them we cannot hope to explore all the 
lands which it is the object of our voyage to search. We 
could only obtain ten at Grodhaven, and require twenty 
more. 

Qth. — By Petersen's intimate knowledge of the coast we 
were" enabled to run close into the little settlement of 
Proven during the night, and obtain a few dogs and 
dogs' food. This morning we reached the extreme sta- 



Lvg. 1857. HEAYY GALE OFF UPERNIVIK. 53 

tion of Upernivik, the last trace of civilization we shall 
meet with for some time. It is in lat. T2| N. Here Peter- 
sen resided for twelve of the eighteen years he has spent in 
Greenland, and his unlooked-for re-appearance astonished 
and delighted the small community, more especially Gover- 
nor Fleigcher and his household, who received us with a 
most hearty welcome. 

%th. — Yesterday, when we hove to off Upernivik, the 
weather was very bad and rapidly growing worse, therefore 
our stay was limited to a couple of hours. The last letters 
for home were landed, fourteen dogs and a quantity of 
seal's flesh for them embarked, and the ship's head was 
turned seaward. 

It 'was then blowing a southerly gale, with overcast, 
murky sky, and a heavy sea running. When four miles out- 
side the outer island, breakers were suddenly discovered 
ahead, only just in time to avoid the ledge of sunken rocks 
upon which the sea was beating most violently. Many 
such rocks lie at considerable distances beyond the islands 
which border this coast, and greatly add to the dangers 
of its navigation. Being now fairly at sea, and the ship under 
easy sail for the night, I went early to bed in the hope of 
sleeping. I had been up all the previous night, naturally 
anxious about the ship threading her way through so many 
dangers, uncertain about being able to complete the number 
of our sledge-dogs, and much occupied in closing ray cor- 
respondence, to which there would be an end for at least a 
year. All this over, the uncertain future loomed ominously 
before me. The great responsibilities I had undertaken 
seemed now and at once to fall with all their weight upon me. 
A mental whirlpool was the consequence, which, backed 
by the material storm, and the howling of the wretched 
dogs in concert on deck, together with the tumbling about 
of every thing below, long kept sleep in abeyance. 

One thought and feeling predominated : it was gratitude, 



54 PASSAGE THROUGH BAFFIN'S BAY. Chap. II. 

deep and humble, for the success which had hitherto at- 
tended us, and for some narrow escapes which I must ever 
regard as providential. 

Yesterday's gale has given place to calm, foggy weather. 
An occasional iceberg is seen. The officers amuse them- 
selves in trying new guns, and shooting sea-birds for our 
dogs. 

Governor Fliescher told me yesterday that for the last 
four weeks southerly winds prevailed, and that only a fort- 
night ago his boat was unable to reach the Loom Cliffs at 
Cape Shackleton, 5-0 miles north of Upernivik, in consequence 
of the ice being pressed in against the land. I fear these 
same winds have closed together the ice which occupies the 
middle of Davis' Strait (hence called the middle ice), so 
that we shall not be able to penetrate it. However, we are 
standing out to make the attempt. 

To the uninitiated it may be as well to observe that each 
winter the sea called Baffin's Bay freezes over ; in spring 
this vast body of ice breaks up, and drifting southward in 
a mass — called the main-pack, or the middle ice — obstructs 
the passage across from east to west. 

The "North Passage" is made by sailing round the 
north end of this pack ; the " Middle Passage," by pushing 
through it; and the "Southern Passage," by passing round 
its southern extreme ; but seasons do occur when none of 
these routes are practicable. 

It is very remarkable that southward of Disco northerly 
winds have prevailed. They greatly impeded our progress 
up Davis' Strait, but we cheered ourselves with the hope 
that they would effectually clear a path for us across the 
northern part of Baffin's Bay. 

Sth. — Last night we reached the edge of the middle ice, 
about 70 miles to the west of Upernivik, and ran southward 
along its edge all night. This morning, in thick fog, the 
ship was caught in its margin of loose ice. The fog soon 



Aug. 1857. MELVILLE BAY. 55 

after cleared off, and we saw the clear sea about two miles 
to the eastward, whilst all to the west was impenetrable 
closely-packed floe-pieces. After steaming out of our pre- 
dicament (a matter which we could not- accomplish under 
sail) we ran on to the southward until evening, but found 
the pack edge still composed of light ice very closely 
pressed together. 

Having now closely examined it for an extent of 40 
miles, I was satisfied that we could not force a passage 
through it across Baffin's Bay, as is frequently clone in or- 
dinary seasons ; therefore, taking advantage of a fair wind, 
we steered to the northward, in order to seek an opening in 
that direction. 

11th. — We are in Melville Bay ; made fast this afternoon 
to an iceberg, which lies aground in 58 fathoms water, 
about two miles from Browne's Islands, and between them 
and the great glacier which here takes the place of the 
coast-line. 

We have got thus far without any difficulty, sailing along 
the edge of the middle ice ; but here we find it pressing in 
against Browne's Islands, and covering the whole bay to 
the northward, quite in the steep face of the glacier. This 
is evidently the result of long-continued southerly winds; 
but as the ice is very much broken up, we may expect it to 
move off rapidly before the autumnal northerly winds now 
due, and these winds invariably remove the previous season's 
ice. All that we know of Melville Bay navigation in Au- 
gust, is derived from the experience of Government and 
private searching expeditions during eight or nine seasons. 
My own three previous transits across it were made in this 
month. The whalers either get through in June or July, 
or give up the attempt as being too late for their fishing. 
It frequently happens that they get round the south end of 
the middle ice, between latitudes 66° and 69° N., and up 
the west coast of Baffin's Bay late in the season ; but we 



56 GREAT GLACIER OP GREENLAND. CVap. II. 

have no accounts of these voyages, nor should I be justified, 
at this late period of the season, in abandoning the prospect 
before me, in order to attempt a route which, even if suc- 
cessful, would lengthen our voyage to Barrow Strait by TOO 
or 800 miles. We have already passed what is usually the 
most difficult and dangerous part of the Melville Bay 
transit. 

There is much to excite intense admiration and wonder 
around us ; one cannot at once appreciate the grandeur of 
this mighty glacier, extending unbroken for 40 or 50 miles. 
Its sea-cliffs, about 5 or 6 miles from us, appear compara- 
tively low, yet the icebergs detached from it are of the 
loftiest description. Here, on the spot, it does not seem 
incorrect to compare the icebergs to mere chippings off its 
edge, and the floe-ice to the thinnest shavings. 

The far-off outline of glacier, seen against the eastern 
shy, has a faint tinge of yellow; it is almost horizontal, and 
of unknown distance and elevation. 

There is an unusual dearth of birds and seals ; everything 
around us is painfully still, excepting when an occasional 
iceberg splits off from the parent glacier; then we hear a 
rumbling crash like distant thunder, and the wave occasioned 
by the launch reaches us in six or seven minutes, and makes 
the ship roll lazily for a similar period. I cannot imagine 
that within the whole compass of nature's varied aspects, 
there is presented to the human eye a scene so well adapted 
for promoting deep and serious reflection, for lifting the 
thoughts from trivial things of every day life to others of 
the highest import. 

The glacier serves to remind one at once of Time and 
of Eternity — of time, since we see portions of it break off 
to drift and melt away; and of eternity, since its downward 
march is so extremely slow, and its augmentations behind 
so regular, that no change in its appearance is perceptible 
from age to age. If even the untaught savages of luxuriant 
tropical regions regard the earth merely as a temporary 



Are. 1857. REINDEER CROSS THE GLACIER. 57 

abode, surely all who gaze upon this ice-overwhelmed re- 
gion, this wide expanse of "terrestrial wreck," must bo 
similarly assured that here "we have no abiding place." 

During daytime the strong glare is very distressing, 
hence the subdued light of midnight, when the sun just 
skims along the northern horizon, is much the most agree- 
able part of the twenty-four hours ; the temperature varies 
between 30° and 40° of Fahrenheit. 

The drift-ice of various descriptions about us is con- 
stantly in motion under the influence of mysterious surface 
and under currents (according to their relative depths of 
floatation), which whirl them about in every possible di- 
rection. 

To the S. E. are two small islands, almost enveloped in 
the glacier, and far within it an occasional mountain-peak 
protrudes from beneath. 

From observing closely the variations in the glacier sur- 
face, I think we may safely infer that where it lies unbroken 
and smooth, the supporting land is level ; and where much 
crevassed, the land beneath is uneven. The -crevassed parts 
are of course impassable, but, by following the windings of 
"the smooth surface, I think the interior could be reached. 
Some attempts to cross the glacier in South Greenland 
have failed, yet, by studying its character and attending to 
this remark, I think places might be found where an attempt 
would succeed. Mr. Petersen tells me that the Esquimaux 
of Uperuivik are unable to account for occasional disap- 
pearances and reappearances of immense herds of reindeer, 
except by assuming that they migrate at intervals to feed- 
ing-grounds beyond the glacier, the surface of which he 
also says is smooth enough in many places even for dog- 
sledges to travel upon. As there is much uninhabited land, 
both to the northward and southward of Uperuivik, I do 
not see the necessity for this supposition. The habits of 
the Esquimaux confine them almost exclusively to the 
islands and sea-coasts. 



58 MELVILLE BAY. Chap. HI. 



CHAPTER III. 

Melville Bay — Bese i »fl Melville Bay — Signs of "Winter — The coming 
Storm — Drifting d the pack — Canine appetite — Resigned to a winter 
in the pack — J rner stolen by sharks — The Arctic shark — White 
Whales and KiLers. 

lbth August. — Three days of the most perfect calm 
have sadly taxed our patience. Lovely bright weather, 
but scarcely a living creature seen. This afternoon the 
anxiously-looked-for north wind sprang up, and immedi- 
ately the light ice began to drift away before it, but it is not 
strong enough to influence the icebergs, and they greatly 
retard the clearing out of the bay. We have noticed a con- 
stant wind off the glacier, probably the'result of its cooling 
effect upon the atmosphere ; this wind does not extend 
more than 3 or 4 miles out from it. 

16i/?.. — One of the loveliest mornings imaginable: the 
icebergs sparkled in the sun, and the breeze was just suffi- 
ciently strong to ripple the patches of dark blue sea ; be- 
yond this, there was nothing to cheer one in the prospect 
from the Crow's-nest at four o'clock ; but little change had 
taken place in the ice; I therefore determined to run back 
along the pack-edge to the southwestward, in the hope that 
some favorable change might have taken place further off 
shore. The barometer was unusually low, yet no indication 
of any change of weather. A seaman's chest was picked 
np ; it contained only a spoon, a fork, and some tin can- 
isters, and probably drifted here from the southward, where 
the two whale-ships were crushed in June, affording another 



Aug. 1857. MELVILLE BAT. 59 

proof of the prevalence of southerly winds. As we steamed 
on, the ice was found to have opened considerably ; it fell 
calm, and mist was observed rolling along the glacier from 
the southward. By noon a S. E. wind reached us ; all sail 
was set, the leads or lanes of water became wider, and our 
hopes of speedily crossing Melville Bay rose in proportion 
as our speed increased. We are pursuing our course with- 
out let or hindrance. 

11th. — The fog overtook us yesterday evening, and at 
length, unable to see our way, we made fast at eleven 
o'clock to the ice. The wind had freshened, it was evi- 
dently blowing a gale outside the ice. During the night 
we drifted rapidly together with the ice, and this morning, 
on the clearing off of the fog, we steamed and sailed on 
again, threading our way between the floes, which are larger 
and much covered with dry snow. This evening we again 
made fast, the floes having closed together, cutting off ad- 
vance and retreat. A wintry night, much wind and snow. 

12th. — Continued strong S. E. winds, pressing the ice 
closely together, dark sky and snow ; everything wears a 
wintry and threatening aspect ; we are closely hemmed in, 
and have our rudder and screw unshipped. This recom- 
mencement of S. E. winds and rapid ebbing of the small 
remaining portion of summer makes me more anxious about 
the future than the present. Yesterday the weather im- 
proved, and by working for thirteen hours we got the ship 
out of her small ice-creek into a larger space of water, and 
in so doing advanced a mile and a half. It is now calm, 
but the ice still drifts, as we would wish it, to the N.W. 
Yesterday we were within 12 miles of the position of the 
' Enterprise' upon the same day in 1848, and under very 
similar conditions of weather and ice also. 

20th. — No favorable ice-drift : this detention has become 
most painful. The 'Enterprise' reached the open water 
upon this day in 1848, within 50 miles of our present posi* 



gO BESET IN MEVLILLE BAT. Chap. IIL 

tion; 'unfortunately our prospects are not so cheering. 
There is no relative motion in the floes of ice, except a 
gradual closing together, the small spaces and streaks of 
water being still further diminished. The temperature hag 
fallen, and is usually below the freezing-point. I feel most 
keenly the difficulty of my position ; we cannot afford to 
lose many more days. Of all the voyages to Barrow 
Strait, there are but two which were delayed beyond this 
date, viz., Parry's in 1824, and the 'Prince Albert's' in 
1851. Should we not be released, and therefore be compelled 
to winter in this pack, notwithstanding all our efforts, I 
shall repeat this trial next year, and in the end, with God's 
aid, perform my sacred duty. 

The men enjoy a game of rounders on the ice every 
evening ; Petersen and Christian are constantly on the look- 
out for seals, as well as Hobson and Young occasionally; 
if in good condition and killed instantaneously, the seals 
float; several have already been shot; the liver fried with 
bacon is excellent. 

Birds have become scarce, — the few we see are returning 
southward. How anxiously I watch the ice, weather, baro- 
meter, and thermometer ! Wind from any other quarter 
than S. E. would oblige the floe-pieces to arrange them- 
selves, in doing which they would become loose, and then 
would be our- opportunity to proceed. 

Zith. — Fine weather with very light northerly winds. 
We have drifted 7 miles to the west in the last two days. 
The ice is now a close pack, so close that one may walk for 
many miles over it in any direction, by merely turning a 
little to the right or left to avoid the small water spaces. 
My frequent visits to the crow's-nest are not inspiriting: 
how absolutely distressing this imprisonment is to me, no 
one without similar experience can form any idea. As yet 
the crew have but little suspicion how blighted our pros- 
pects are. 



Aug. 1857. SEAL SHOOTING. gl 

27t7i. — We daily make attempts to push on, and some- 
times get a ship's length, but yesterday evening we made a 
mile and a half! the ice then closed against the ship's sides and 
lifted her about a foot. We have had a fresh east wind for 
two days, but no corresponding ice-drift to the west ; this 
is most discouraging, and can only be accounted for by sup- 
posing the existence of much ice or grounded icebergs in 
that direction. 

The dreaded reality of wintering in the pack is gradually 
forcing itself upon my mind, — but I must not write on this 
subject, it is bad enough to brood over it unceasingly. We 
can see the land all round Melville Bay, frpni Cape Walker 
nearly to Cape York. Petersen is indefatigable at seal- 
shooting, he is so anxious to secure them for our dogs ; he 
says they must be hit in the head ; " if you hit him in the beef 
that is not good," meaning that a flesh-wound does not pre- 
vent their escaping under the ice. Petersen and Christian 
practice an Esquimaux mode of attracting the seals ; they 
scrape the ice, thus making a noise like that produced by a 
seal in making a hole with its flippers, and then place one 
end of a pole in the water and put their mouths close to 
the other end, making noises in imitation of the snorts and 
grunts of their intended victims ; whether the device is sue ■ 
cessful or not I do not know, but it looks laughable enough. 

Christian came back a few days ago, like a true seal- 
hunter, carrying his kayak on his head, and dragging a seal 
behind him. Only two years ago Petersen returned across 
this bay with Dr. Kane's retreating party ; he shot a seal, 
which they devoured raw, and which, under Providence, 
saved their lives. Petersen is a good ice-pilot, knows all 
these coasts as well or better than any man living, and 
from long experience and habits of observation, is almost 
unerring in his prognostications of the weather. Besides his 
great value to us as interpreter, few men are better adapted 
for Arctic work, — an ardent sportsman, an agreeable com- 



62 SIGNS OF WINTER. Chap. III. 

panion, never at a loss for occupation or amusement, and 
always contented and sanguine. But we have happily 
many such dispositions in the 'Fox.' 

30/A. — The whole distance across Melville Bay is 1T0 
miles : of this we have performed about 120, 40 of which 
we have drifted in the last fourteen days. The 'Isabel,' 
sailed freely over this spot on the 20th August, 1852 ; and 
the 'North Star' was beset on the 30th July, 1849, to the 
southward of Melville Bay, and carried in the ice across it 
and some "TO or 80 miles beyond, when she was set free on the 
26th September, and went into Winter quarters in Wol- 
stenholme Sound. What a precedent for us ! 

Yesterday we set to work as usual to warp the ship 
along, and moved her ten feet: an insignificant hummuck 
then blocked up the narrow passage ; as we could not push 
it before us, a two-pound blasting charge was exploded,. 
and the surface ice was shattered, but such an immense 
quantity of broken ice came up from beneath, that the dif- 
ficulty was greatly increased instead of being removed. This 
is one of the many instances in which our small vessel 
labors under very great disadvantages in ice-navigation — 
we have neither sufficient manual power, steam power, nor 
impetus to force the floes asunder. I am convinced that a 
steamer of moderate size and power, with a crew of forty 
or fifty men, would have got through a hundred miles of 
such ice in less time than we have been beset. 

The temperature fell to 25° last night, and the pools are 
strongly frozen over. I now look matters steadily and 
calmly in the face ; whilst reasonable ground for hope re- 
mained I was anxious in the extreme. The dismal prospect 
of a " winter in the pack " had scarcely begun to dawn upon 
the crew ; however I do not think they will be much upset 
by it. They had some exciting foot-races on the ice yester- 
day evening. 

1st Sept. — The indication of an approaching S. E. gale 



Sept. 1857. DRIFTING IN THE PACK. 63 

are at all times sufficiently apparent here, and fortunately 
SO, as it is the most dangerous wind in Melville Bay. It 
was on the morning of the 30th, before church-time, that 
they attracted our attention : the wind was very light, but 
barometer low and falling ; very threatening appearances in 
the S. E. quarter, dark-blue sky, and grey detached clouds 
slowly rising ; when the wind commenced the barometer 
began to rise. This gale lasted forty-eight hours, and 
closed up every little space of water ; at first all the ice 
drifted before the wind, but latterly remained stationary. 
Twenty seals have been shot up to this time. 

On comparing Petersen's experience with my own and 
that of the 'North Star' in 1849, it seems probable that the 
ice along the shores of Melville Bay, at this season, will 
drift northward close along the land as far as Cape Parry, 
where, meeting with a S. W. current out of Whale oi 
Smith's Sound, it will be carried away into the middle of 
Baffin's Bay, and thence during the winter down Davis' 
Strait into the Atlantic. From Cape Dudley Digges to 
Cape Parry, including Wolstenholme Sound, open water 
remains until October. It is strange that we have ceased to 
drift lately to the westward. 

6th. — During the last week we have only drifted 9 miles 
to the west. Obtained soundings in 88 fathoms ; this is a 
discovery, and not an agreeable one. Of the six or seven 
icebergs in sight, the nearest are to the west of us ; they are 
very large, and appear to be aground ; we approach them 
slowly. Pleasant weather, but the winds are much too gen- 
tle to be of service to us ; although the nights are cold, yet 
during the day our men occasionally do their sewing on 
deck. Our companions the seals are larger and fatter than 
formerly, therefore they float when shot ; we are disposed 
to attribute their improved condition to the better feeding 
upon this bank. The dredge brought up some few shell- 
fish, star-fish, stones and much soft mud. 



4 



64 CANINE APPETITE. Chap. III. 

9^/?-. — On this day, in 1824, Sir Edward Parry got out of 
the middle ice. and succeeded in reaching Port Bowen. To 
continue hoping for release in time to reach Bellot Strait 
would be absurd ; yet to employ the men we continue our 
preparations of tents, sledges, and gear for traveling. Two 
days ago the ice became more slack than usual, and a long 
lane opened ; its western termination could not be seen 
from aloft. Every effort was made to get into this water, 
and by the aid. of steam and blasting powder we advanced 
100 yards out of the intervening 110 yards of ice, when 
the floes began to close together, a S. E. wind having sprung 
up. Had we succeeded in reaching the water, I think we 
should have extricated ourselves completely, and perhaps 
ere this have reached Barrow Strait, but S. E. and S. W. 
gales succeeded, and it now blows a S.S.E. gale, with sleet. 

10th.- — Young went to the large icebergs to-day; the 
nearest of. them is 250 feet high, and in 83 fathoms water ; 
it is therefore probably aground, except at spring tide ; the 
floe-ice was drifting past it to the westward, and was crush- 
ing up against its side to a height of 50 feet. 

13th. — Thermometer has fallen to IT at noon. We hare 
drifted 18 miles to the W. in the last week ; therefore our 
neighbors, the icebergs, are not always aground, but even 
when afloat drift more slowly than the light ice. There is 
a water-sky to the W. and IS". W. ; it is nearest to us in the 
direction of Cape York ; could we only advance 12 or 15 
miles in that direction, I am convinced we should be free 
to steer for Barrow Strait. Forty-three seals have been 
secured for the dogs ; one dog is missing, the remaining 
twenty-nine devoured their two days' allowance of seal's 
flesh (60 or 65 lbs.) in forty-two seconds 1 it contained no 
bone, and had been cut up into small pieces, and spread out 
upon the snow, before they were permitted to rush to din- 
ner; in- this way the weak enjoy a fair chance, and there is 
no time for fighting. We do not allow them on board. 



Sept. 1857. PREPARING FOR WINTER. 65 

lUh. — At length we have drifted past the large icebergs, 
obtaining soundings in 69 fathoms within a mile of them ; 
they must now be aground, and have frequently been so 
during the last three weeks ; and being directly upon our 
line of drift, are probably the immediate cause of our still 
remaining in Melville Bay. The ice is slack everywhere, 
but the temperature having fallen to 3°, new ice rapidly 
forms, so that the change comes too late. The western 
limit of the day — Cape York — is very distinct, and not 
more than 25 miles from us. 

18th. — Lanes of water in all directions; but the nearest 
is half a mile from us. They come too late, as do also the 
N. W. winds which have now succeeded the fatal south- 
easter. The temperature fell to 2° below zero last night. 
We are now at length in the "North Water;" the old ice 
has spread out in all directions, so that it is only the young 
ice — formed within the last fortnight — which detains us 
prisoners here. 

The icebergs, the chief cause of our unfortunate deten- 
tion, and which for more than three weeks were in advance 
of us to the westward, are now, in the short space of two 
days, nearly out of sight to the eastward. 

The preparations for wintering and sledge-traveling go 
on with unabated alacrity ; the latter will be useful should 
it become necessary to abandon the ship. 

Notwithstanding such a withering blight to my dearest 
hopes, yet I cannot overlook the many sources of gratifica- 
tion which do exist ; we have not only the necessaries, but 
also a fair portion of the luxuries, of ordinary sea-life ; our 
provisions and clothing are abundant and well suited to the 
climate. Our whole equipment, though upon so small a 
scale, is perfect in its way. We all enjoy perfect health, 
and the men are most cheerful, willing, and quiet. 

Our "native auxiliaries," consisting of Christian and his 
twenty-nine dogs, are capable of performing immense ser- 
5 



fig PROSPECT POR WINTER. Chap. III. 

vice ; whilst Mr. Petersen, from his great Arctic experience, 
is of much use to me, besides being all that I could wish as 
an interpreter. Humanly speaking, we are not unreasona- 
ble in confidently looking forward to a successful issue of 
this season's operations, and I greatly fear that poor Lady 
Franklin's disappointment will consequently be the more 
severely felt. 

We are doomed to pass a long winter of absolute inutility, 
if not of idleness, in comparative peril and privation ; nev- 
ertheless the men seem very happy — thoughtless, of course, 
as true sailors always are. 

We have drifted off the bank into much deeper water, 
and suppose this is the reason that seals have become more 
scarce. 

22nd. — Constant N". W. winds continue to drift us slowly 
southward. Strong indications of water in the N. W., W., 
and S.'E. ; its vicinity may account for a rise in the tem- 
perature, without apparent cause, to 27° at noon to-clay. 

The newly formed ice affords us delightful walking; the 
old ice on the contrary is covered with a foot of soft snow. 
We have no shooting ; scarcely a living creature has been 
seen for a week. 

2Uh. — Yesterday I thought I saw two of our men walk- 
ing at a distance, and beyond some unsafe ice, but on 
inquiry found that all were on board : Petersen and I set 
off to reconnoitre the strangers ; they proved to be bears, 
but much too wary to let us come within shot. It was dark 
when we returned on board after a brisk walk over the new 
ice. The calm air felt agreeably mild. We were without 
mittens ; and but that the breath froze upon mustachios and 
beard, one could have readily imagined the night was com- 
fortably warm. The thermometer stood at-f-5°. 

To-day when walking in a fresh breeze the wind felt very 
cold, and kept one on the look-out for frost-bites, although 
the thermometer was up to 10°. Games upon the ice and 



Sept. 1857. DINNER STOLEN BY SHARKS. 6t 

skating are our afternoon amusements, but we also have 
some few lovers of music, who embrace the opportunity for 
vigorous execution, without fear of being reminded that 
others may have ears more sensitive and discriminating than 
their own. 

26th. — The mountain to the North of Melville Bay, 
known as the 'Snowy Peak,' was visible yesterday, al- 
though 90 miles distant ; I have calculated its height to be 
6000 feet. A raven was shot to-day. 

21th. — Our salt meat is usually soaked for some days be- 
fore being used ; for this purpose it is put into a net, and 
lowered through a hole in the ice ; this morning the net had 
been torn, and only a fragment of it remained. We sup- 
pose our twenty-two pounds of salt meat had been devoured 
by a, shark ; it would be curious to know how such fare 
agrees with him, as a full meal of salted provision will kill 
an Esquimaux clog, which thrives on almost any thing. I 
used to remonstrate upon the skins of sea-birds being given 
to our dogs, but was told the feathers were good for them ! 
Here all sea-birds are skinned before being cooked, other- 
wise our ducks, divers, and looms would be uneatably fishy. 
A well-baited shark-hook has been substituted for the net of 
salt meat; I much wish to capture one of the monsters, as 
wonderful stories are told us of their doings in Greenland : 
whether they are the white shark or the basking shark of 
natural history I cannot find out. It is only of late years 
that the shark fishery has been carried on to any extent in 
Greenland ; they are captured for the sake of their livers, 
which yield a considerale quantity of oil. It has very re- 
cently been ascertained that a valuable substance resembling 
spermaceti may be expressed from the carcase, and for this 
purpose powerful screw presses are now employed. In 
early winter the sharks are caught with hook and line 
through holes in the ice. 

The Esquimaux assert that they are insensible to pain j 



gg THE ARCTIC SHARK, Chap. IIL 

and Petersen assures me he has plunged a long knife several 
times into the head of one whilst it continued to feed upon 
a white whale entangled in his net ! ! It is not sufficient to 
drive them away with sundry thrusts of spears or knives, 
but they must be towed away to some distance from the 
nets, otherwise they will return to feed. It must be remem- 
bered that the brain of a shark is extremely small in pro- 
portion to the size of its huge head. I have seen bullets 
fired through them with very little apparent effect ; but if 
these creatures can feel, the devices practiced upon them by 
the Esquimaux must be cruel indeed. 

It is only in certain localities that sharks are found, and 
in these places they are often attracted to the nets by the 
animals entangled in them. The dogs are not suffered to 
"jat either the skin or the head, the former in consequence 
of its extreme roughness, and the latter because it causes 
giddiness and makes them sick. 

The nets alluded to are set for the white whale or the 
eal; if for the former, they are attached to the shore and 
extended off at right angles so as to intercept them in their 
autumnal southern migration, when they swim close along 
the rocks to avoid their direst foe, the grampus, or killer, 
of sailors, the Delphinus orca of naturalists. When the 
white whale is stopped by the net it often appears at first 
to be unconscious of the fact, and continues to swim against 
it, affording time for the approach of the boat and deadly 
harpoon from behind. If entangled in the net a very short 
time suffices to drown them, as, like all the whale tribe, 
they are obliged to come to the surface to breathe. 

The killer is also a cetacean of considerable size, 15 to 
20 feet in length, but of very different habits; it is very 
swift, is armed with powerful teeth, and is gregarious. 
When in sufficient numbers they even attack the whale, 
impeding his progress by fastening on his fins and tail. In 
summer they appear in the Greenland seas, and the seals 



Sept. 1857. KILLERS. fo 

instantly seek refuge from them in the various creeks and 
inner harbors ; and the Esquimaux hunter in his frail kayak, 
when he sees the huge pointed dorsal fin swiftly cleaving 
the surface of the sea, is scarcely less anxious to shun such 
dangerous company. With such stories as these Petersen 
beguiles the time ; I never tire of listening to them, and 
now amuse myself in jotting scraps of them down. 



>f £ FIXED IN THE ICE. Chap. IV. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Snow crystals — Dog will not eat raven — An Arctic school — The dogs 
invade us- — Bear-hunting by night — Ice-artillery — Arctic palates — 
Sudden rise of temperature — Harvey's idea of a sortie. 

3cZ Oct. — September has passed away and left us as a 
legacy to the pack; what a month have we had of anxious 
hopes and fears ! 

Up to the 17th S. E. winds prevailed, forcing the ice into 
a compact body, and urging it north-westward; subse- 
quently N, W. winds set in, drifting it southward, and 
separating the floe-pieces ; but the change of wind being 
accompanied by a considerable fall of temperature, they 
were either quickly cemented together again, or young ice 
formed over the newly opened lanes of water, almost as 
rapidly as the surface of the sea became exposed. During 
the month the thermometer ranged between -f-36° an( j _2© 
Two more bears and a raven have been seen. A wearied 
ptarmigan alighted near the ship, but before it could take 
wing again the dogs caught it, and scarcely a feather re- 
mained by the time I could rush on deck. 

Our beautiful little organ was taken out of its case to- 
day, and put up on the lower deck ; the men enjoy its 
pleasing tones, whilst Christian unceasingly turns the handle 
in a state of intense delight ; he regards it with such awe 
and admiration, and is so entranced, that one cannot help 
envying him ; of course he never saw one before. The 
instrument was presented by the Prince Consort to the 
searching vessel bearing his name which was sent out by 



Oct. 1857. MONOTONOUS LIFE. fl 

Lady Franklin in 1851 ; it is now about to pass its third 
winter in the frozen regions. 

Two dogs ran off yesterday, in the vain hope, I suppose, 
of bettering their condition, — we only feed them three 
times a week at present ; they returned this morning. 

Seals are daily seen upon the new ice, but in- this doubt- 
ful sort of light they are extremely timid, therefore our 
sportsmen cannot get within shot. The bears scent or hear 
our dogs, and so keep aloof; even the shark has deserted 
us, the bait remains intact. The snow crystals of last night 
are extremely beautiful; the largest kind is an inch in 
length ; its form exactly resembles the end of a pointed 
feather. Stellar crystals two-tenths of an inch in diameter 
have also fallen ; these have six points, and are the most 
exquisite things when seen under a microscope. I remem- 
ber noticing them at Melville Island in March, 1853, when 
the temperature rose to +8°; as these were formed last 
night between the temperatures of +6° and +12°, it 
would appear that the form is due to a certain fixed tem- 
perature. In the sun, or even in moonlight, all these crys- 
tals glisten most brilliantly ; and as our masts and rigging 
are abundantly covered with them, the 'Fox' was never so 
gorgeously arrayed as she now appears. 

13^7?.. — One day is very like another; we have to battle 
stoutly with monotony; and but that each twenty-four hours 
brings with it necessary though trivial duties, it would be 
difficult to remember the elate. We take our guns and 
walk long distances, but see nothing. Two of the dogs go 
hunting on their own account, sometimes remaining absent 
a,ll night. What they find or do is a mystery. The weather 
is generally calm and cold — very favorable for freezing pur- 
poses at all events — for the ice of only three weeks' growth 
is two feet thick. 

I hardly expect any considerable disruption of the ice 
before^ the general break-up in the spring, yet we do not 



72 "HAKNESS JACK." Chap. IV. 

trust any of our provisions upon it, nor is it sufficiently still 
to set up a magnetic observatory, for which purpose the in- 
struments have been supplied to us. 

Petersen still hopes we may escape and get into TTper- 
nivik, as the sea is not permanently frozen over there before 
December. I am surprised to hear that eagles have been 
seen so far north as Upernivik, although it is but twice in 
twenty-four years that specimens have been noticed there. 
In Richardson's ' Fauna Boreali Americana ' the extreme 
northern limit of these birds is given as 66°; but Upernivik 
is in T2f°. 

A few bear and fox tracks have been seen, but no living 
creatures for several days, except a flock of ducks hastening 
southward, and a solitary raven. 

It is said that Esquimaux dogs will eat everything except 
fox and raven. There are exceptions, however; one of 
ours, old " Harness Jack," devoured a raven with much 
gusto some days ago. All the other dogs allowed their 
harness to be taken off when they were brought on board; 
but old Jack will not permit himself to be unrobed ; when 
attempted, he very plainly threatens to use his teeth. This 
canine oddity suddenly became immensely popular, by con- 
stituting himself protecting head of the establishment when 
one of his tribe littered ; he took up a most uncomfortable 
position on top of the family cask (our impromptu kennel), 
and prevented the approach of all the other dogs ; but for 
his timely interference on behalf of the poor little puppies, 
I verily believe they would all have been stolen and de- 
voured ! Dogs may do even worse than eat raven. 

I have attempted some experiments for the purpose of 
determining the mean hourly change of oscillation of a pen- 
dulum due to the earth's diurnal motion; but as mine was 
only 11^ feet in length, I failed of any approach to accu- 
racy. The mean of several observations gave If 47', 
whereas the change due to our latitude is about 14° 30'. A 



Oct. 1857. AN ARCTIC SCHOOL. 73 

single experiment gave 14° 10' and this was the longest in 
point of time of any of them, the pendulum having swung 
for thirty-six minutes. 

24dh. — Furious IS". W. and S. E. gales have alternated of 
late ; the ship is housed over, to keep out the driving snow ; 
so high is the snow carried in the air that a little box per- 
forated with small holes and triced up 50 feet high is soon 
filled up ; this box is supplied morning and evening with a 
piece of prepared paper to detect the presence and amount 
of ozone in the atmosphere; it is a peculiar pet of the 
Doctor's. 

At eight o'clock this evening I noticed the falling of a 
very brilliant meteor; it passed through the constellation of 
Cassiopceia in a N. N. B. direction before terminating its 
visible existence, which it did very much like a huge rocket; 
the flash was so brilliant that a man whose back was turned 
to it mistook the illumination for lightning. 

2Qth. — Our school opened this evening, under the auspi- 
ces of Dr. Walker. He reports eight or nine pupils, and 
is much gratified by their zeal. At present their studies 
are limited to the three It's — reading, 'riting, and 'rithme- 
tic. They have asked him to read and explain something 
instructive, so he intends to make them acquainted with the 
trade- winds and atmosphere. This subject affords an oppor- 
tunity of explaining the uses of our thermometer, barome- 
ter, ozonometer, and electrometer, which they see us take 
much interest in. It is delightful to find a spirit of inquiry 
amongst them. Apart from scholastic occupation, I give 
them healthful exercise in spreading a thick layer of snow 
over the deck, and encasing the ship all round with a bank 
of the same material. 

28th. — Midnight. This evening, to our great astonish- 
ment, there occurred a disruption and movement of the ice 
within 200 yards of the ship. The night was calm ; the 
reflection of a bright moon, aided by the more than ordinary 



74 ICE DISTURBANCE. Chap. IV, 

brilliancy of the stars upon the snowy expanse, made it 
appear to us almost daylight. As I sit now in my cabin I 
can distinctly hear the ice crushing ; it resembles the con- 
tinued roar of distant surf, and there are many other occa- 
sional sounds ; some of them remind one of the low moan- 
ing of the wind, others are loud and harsh, as if trains of 
heavy wagons with ungreased axles were slowly laboring 
along. Upon a less-fatored night these sounds might be 
appalling ; even as it is, they are sufficiently ominous to in- 
vite reflection. Cape York has been in sight for some days 
past. 

29/$. ■ — Another heavenly night, and still greater ice dis- 
turbance ; some of the crushed-up pieces are nearly four 
feet thick. The currents, icebergs, and changes of tempera- 
ture, may contribute to this ice action ; but I think the 
tides are the chief cause, and for these reasons : that it 
wants but two days to the full moon, and that the ice- 
movements are almost confined to the night, and change 
their direction morning and evening. Now we know that 
the night tides in Greenland greatly exceed the day-tides. 
One thing is evident — the weather continues calm, there- 
fore the winds are not concerned in the matter. 

2nd Nov. — Having observed some days ago that a few 
of the dogs were falling away — from some cause or other 
not having put on their winter clothing before the recent 
cold weather set in — they were all allowed on board, and 
given a good extra meal. Since then we can scarcely 
keep them out. One calm night they made a charge, and 
boarded the ship so suddenly that several of the men rushed 
up very scantily clothed, to see what was the matter. Vig- 
orous measures were adopted to expel the intruders, and 
there was desperate chasing round the deck with broom- 
sticks, &c. Many of them retreated into holes and cor- 
ners, and two hours elapsed before they were all driven out ; 



Nov. 1857. BEAR-HUNTING BY NIGHT. 75 

but though the chase was hot, it was cold enough work for 
the half-clad men. 

Sailors use quaiut expressions. The nightly foraging 
expeditions are called " sorties ;'" they point out to me the 
various corners between decks where the "ice corrodes/' 
i. e., the moisture condenses and forms frost ; a ramble 
over the ice is called "a bit of a peruse." I presume this 
indignity is offered to the word perambulation. 

There was a very sudden call " to arms" to-night. Whe- 
ther sleeping, prosing, or schooling, every one flew out upon 
the ice on the instant, as if the magazine or the boiler 
was on the point of explosion. The alarm of " A bear 
close-to, fighting with the dogs," was the cause. The luck- 
less beast had approached within 25 yards of the ship ere 
the quartermaster's eye detected his indistinct outline against 
the snow ; so silently had he crept up that he was within 
10 yards of some of the dogs. A shout started them up, 
and they at once flew round the bear and embarrassed his 
retreat. In crossing some very thin ice he broke through, 
and there I found him surrounded by yelping dogs.- Poor 
fellow ! Hobson, Young, and Petersen had each lodged a 
bullet in him ; but these only seemed to increase his rage. 
He succeeded in getting out of the water, when, fearing 
harm to the numerous by-standers and dogs, or that he 
might escape, I fired, and luckily the bullet passed through 
his brain. He proved to be a full-grown male, T feet 3 
inches in length. As we all aided in the capture, it was 
decided that the skin should be offered to Lady Franklin. 

The cai-case will feed our dogs for nearly a month ; they 
were rewarded on the spot with the offal. All of them, 
however, had not shown equal pluck ; some ran off in evi- 
dent fright, but others showed no symptom of fear, plung- 
ing or falling into the water with Bruin. Poor old Sophy 
was amongst the latter, and received a deep cut in the 
shoulder from one of his claws. The authorities have pre- 



Y6 GUT FAWKES' DAY. Chap. IV. 

scribed double allowance of food for her, and say she will 
soon recover. 

For the few moments of its duration the chase and death 
was exciting. And how strange and novel the scene ! A 
misty moon affording but scanty light — dark figures gliding 
singly about, not daring to approach each other, for the 
ice trembled under their feet — the enraged bear, the wolfish 
howling dogs, and the bright flashes of the deadly rifles. 

3rd. — I remained up the greater part of last night tak- 
ing observations, for the evening mists had passed away, 
and a lovely moon reigned over a calm enchanting night ; 
through a powerful telescope she resembled a huge frosted- 
silver melon, the large crater-like depression answering to 
that part from which the footstalk had been detached. Not 
a sound to break the stillness around, excepting when some 
hungry dog would return to the battlefield to gnaw into the 
blood-stained ice. 

On the 1st the sun paid us his last visit for the year, 
and now we take all our meals by lamp-light. 

5th. — In order to vary our monotonous routine, we deter- 
mined to celebrate the day ; extra grog was issued to the 
crew, and also for the first time a proportion of preserved 
plum-pudding. Lady Franklin most thoughtfully and 
kindly sent it on board for occasional use. It is excellent. 

This evening a well-got-up procession sallied forth, 
marched round the ship with drum, gong, and discord, and 
then proceeded to burn the effigy of Guy Fawkes. Their 
blackened faces, extravagant costumes, flaring torches, and 
savage yells, frightened away all the dogs; nor was it until 
after the fireworks were set off and the traitor consumed 
that they crept back again. It was school -night, but the 
men were up for fun, so gave the Doctor a holiday. 

12th. — Yesterday I had the good fortune to shoot two 
seals ; they were very fat, and their stomachs were filled 
with shrimps. To-day Young and Petersen shot three 



Nov. 1857. ICE-ARTILLERY. If 

more, and many others have been seen. This is cheering, 
and entices people out for hours daily. There is just 
enough movement in the ice to keep a few narrow lanes and 
small pools of water open ; the floes or fields of ice are 
more inclined to spread out from each other than to close. 
We have latterly been drifting before northerly winds. 

16th. — A renewal of ice-crushing within a few hundreds 
yards of us. I can hear it in my bed. The ordinary sound 
resembles the roar of distant surf breaking heavily and con- 
tinuously ; but when heavy masses come in collision with 
much impetus, it fully realizes the justness of Dr. Kane's 
descriptive epithet, "ice-artillery." Fortunately for us, our 
poor little ' Fox' is well within the margin of a stout old 
floe ; we are therefore undisturbed spectators of ice-conflict3 
which would be irresistible to anything of human construc- 
tion. Immediately about the ship all is still, and as far as 
appearances go she is precisely as she would be in a secure 
harbor — housed all over, banked up with snow to her gun- 
wales. In fact, her winter plumage is so complete that 
the masts alone are visible. The deck and the now useless 
sky-lights are covered with hard snow. Below hatches we 
are warm and dry ; all are in excellent health and spirits, 
looking forward to an active campaign next winter. God 
grant it may be realized ! 

Yesterday Young shot the fiftieth seal, an event duly 
celebrated by our drinking the bottle of champagne which 
had been set apart in more hopeful times to be drunk on 
reaching the North Water — that unhappy failure, the more 
keenly felt from being being so very unexpected. 

Petersen saw and fired a shot into a narwhal, which 
brought the blubber out. When most Arctic creatures are 
wounded in the water, blubber more frequently than blood 
appears, particularly if the wound is superficial — it spreads 
over the surface of the water like oil. Bills of fare vary 
much, even in Greenland. I have inquired of Petersen, and 



78 A LUCKY DOG. Chap. IV. 

he tells me that the Greenland Esquimaux (there are many 
Greenlanders of. Danish origin) are not agreed as to which 
of their animals affords the most delicious "food ; some of 
them prefer reindeer venison, others think more favorably 
of young dog, the flesh of which, he asserts, is "just like 
the beef of sheep." He says a Danish captain, who had 
acquired the taste, provided some for his guests, and they 
praised his mutton I after dinner he sent for the skin of the 
animal, which was no other than a large red dog ! This 
occurred in Greenland, where his Danish guests had resided 
for many years, far removed from European mutton. Baked 
puppy is a real delicacy all over Polynesia : at the Sand- 
wich Islands I was once invited to a feast, and had to feign 
disappointment as well as I could on being told that puppy 
was so extremely scarce it could not be procured in time, 
and therefore sucking pig was substituted ! 

\Wi. — A heavy southerly gale has increased the ice 
movements ; happily we are undisturbed. As Young was 
seated under the lee of a hummock, watching for seals to 
pop up to breathe, the strong ice under him suddenly cracked 
and separated ! He escaped with a ducking, and was just 
able to reach his gun from the bank ere it sank through the 
mixture of snow and water. 

Yesterday we were all out ; I saw only one seal, but was 
refreshed by the sight of a dozen narwhals. It is a positive 
treat to see a living creature of any kind. The only birds 
that remain are dovekies, but they are scarce, and, being 
white, are very rarely visible. 

The dogs are fed every second day, when 2 lbs. of seal's 
flesh — previously thawed when possible — is given to each ; 
the weaker ones get additional food, and they all pick up 
whatever scraps are thrown out ; this is enough to sustain, 
but not to satisfy them, so they are continually on the look-out 
for anything eatable. Hobson made one very happy with- 
out intending it ; he meant only to give him a kick, but his 



Not. 1857. RISE IN TEMPERATURE. Y9 

slipper, being down at heel, flew off, and away went the 
lucky dog in triumph with the prize, which of course was no 
more seen. 

Two large icebergs drifted in company with us ; our rela- 
tive positions have remained pretty nearly the same for the 
last month. 

23rd. — A heavy gale commenced at N. B. on the 21st, 
and continued for thirty-six hours unabated in force, but 
changed in direction to S. S. W. It appears to have been 
a revolving storm, moving to the 1ST. W. Yesterday as the 
wind approached S. E., the temperature rose to -f-32° ; the 
deck sloppy ; the lower deck temperature during Divine 
Service was 15° ! ! As the wind veered round to S. S. W., 
the wind moderated, and temperature fell ; this evening it 
is — 1°. How is it that the S. B. wind has brought us 
such a very high temperature ? Even if it traversed an un- 
frozen sea it could not have derived from thence a higher 
temperature than 29°. Has it swept across Greenland — 
that vast superficies partly enveloped in glacier, partly in 
snow? No, it must have been borne in the higher regions 
of the atmosphere from the far south, in order to mitigate 
the severity of the northern climate. 

Petersen tells me the same warm S. E. wind suddenly 
sweeps over TJpernivik in midwinter, bringing with it abun- 
dance of rain ; and that it always shifts to the S. W., and 
then the temperature rapidly falls : this is precisely the 
change we have experienced in lat. *J5°. I believe a some- 
what similar, but less remarkable, change of temperature 
was noticed in Smith's Sound, lat. *T8|° N. 

25th. — Mild " Madeira weather," as Hobson calls it, 
temperature up to -\-*l°. By my desire Dr. Walker is occu- 
pied in making every possible experiment upon the freezing 
of salt water ; the first crop of ice is salt, the second less 
so, the third produces drinkable water, and the fourth is 
fresh. Frosty efflorescence appears upon ice formed at low 



80 THE DOGS' "SOKTEE." Chap. IV 

temperatures in calm weather — it is brine expressed by the 
act of freezing. We need not wonder that dogs, when driven 
hard over this ice, which soon cuts their feet, suffer intense 
pain, and often fall down in fits ; nor that snow, falling 
from young (sea) ice, wholly or partially thaws, even when 
the temperature is but little above zero ; when near the 
freezing point the young ice thus coated over become sludgy 
and unsafe. 

29th. — Keen, biting, N. W. winds. No cracks in the ice, 
therefore no seals. Grey dawn at ten o'clock, and dark at 
two. The moon is everywhere the sailor's friend, she is a 
source of comfort to us here. Nothing to excite conver- 
sation, except an occasional inroad of the dogs in search 
of food; this generally occurs at night. Whenever the 
deck-light, which burns under the housing happens to go 
out, they scale the steep snow banking and rush round the 
deck like wolves. "Why, bless you, Sir, the werry moment 
that there light goes oat, and the quartermaster turns his 
back, they makes a regular sortee, and in they all comes." 
"But where do they come in, Harvey?" "Where, Sir? 
why everywheres ; they makes no more to do, but in they 
comes, clean over all." Not long ago old Harvey was 
chief quartermaster in a line-of-battle ship, and a regular 
magnet to all the younger midshipmen. He would spin 
them yarns by the hour during the night-watches about the 
wonders of the sea, and of the Arctic regions in particu- 
lar — its bears, its icebergs, and still more terrific "auroras, 
roaring and flashing about the ship enough to frighten a 
fellow !" 

30th. — Severe cold has arrived with the full moon ; eight 
days ago the thermometer stood at the freezing-point, it is 
now 64° below it 1 So dark is it now that I was able to 
observe an eclipse of Jupiter's first satellite before three 
o'clock to-day. For the last two months we have drifted 
reely backwards and forwards before N. W. and S. E. winds ; 



Nov. 1857. PROXIMITY OP OPEN SEA. 81 

each time We have gained a more off-shore position, being 
gradually separated further and further from the land by 
fresh growths of ice, which invariably follow up every ice- 
movement. In this manner we have been thrust out to the 
S.W. 80 miles from the nearest land, and into that free 
space which in autumn was open water, and which we then 
vainly struggled to reach. 

That the ice has been most free to move in this direction 
is additional evidence of the recent proximity of an open 
sea, and shows that in all probability — I had almost said 
certainty — we should have sailed, or at least drifted into it, 
had it not been for those enemies to all progress, tha 
grounded bergs. 



g£ BURIAL IN THE PACK. Chap. V. 



CHAPTER Y. 

Burial in the pack— Musk oxen in lat. 80° north— Thrift of the Arctio 
fox — The aurora affects the electrometer — An Arctic Christmas — 
Sufferings of Dr. Kane's deserters — Ice acted on by wind only — How 
the sun ought to be welcomed — Constant action of the ice — Retura 
of the seals — Revolving storm. 

ith Dec. — I have just returned on board from the per- 
formance of the most solemn duty a commander can be 
called upon to fulfil. A funeral at sea is always peculiarly 
impressive ; but this evening at seven o'clock, as we gath- 
ered around the sad remains of poor Scott, reposing under 
an Union Jack, and read the Burial Service by the light 
of lanterns, the effect could not fail to awaken very serious 
emotions. 

The greater part of the Church Service was read on 
board, under shelter of the housing; the body was then 
placed upon a sledge, and drawn by the messmates of the 
deceased to a short distance from the ship, where a hole 
through the ice had been cut: it was then "committed to 
the deep," and the Service completed. "What a scene it 
was! I shall never forget it. The lonely 'Fox,' almost 
buried in snow, completely isolated from the habitable world, 
her colors half-mast high, and bell mournfully tolling ; our 
little procession slowly marching over the rough surface of 
the frozen sea, guided by lanterns and direction-posts, amid 
the dark and dreary depth of Arctic winter ; the deathlike 
stillness, the intense cold, and threatening aspect of a murky, 
overcast sky ; and all this heightened by one of those strange 
lunar phenomena which are but seldom seen even here, a 



Dec. 1857. MUSK OXEN IN LAT. 80° N. 83 

complete halo encircling the moon, through which passed a 
horizontal band, of pale light that encompassed the heavens ; 
above the moon appeared the segmeuts of two other halos, 
and there were also mock moons or paraselenae to the num- 
ber of six. The misty atmosphere lent a very ghastly hue 
to this singular display, which lasted for rather more than 
an hour. 

Poor Scott fell down a hatchway two days only before 
his death, which was occasioned by the internal injuries then 
received; he was a steady, serious man ; a widow and family 
will mourn his loss. He was our engine-driver ; we cannot 
replace him, therefore the whole duty of working the en- 
gines will devolve upon the engineer, Mr. Brand. 

11th. — Calm, clear weather, pleasant for exercise, but 
steadily cold ; thermometer varies between -20° and -30°. 
At noon the blush of dawn tints the southern horizon, to 
the north the sky remains inky blue, whilst overhead it is 
bright and clear, the stars shining, and the pole-star near 
the zenith very distinct. Although there is a light north 
wind, thin mackerel-clouds are 'passing from south to north, 
and the temperature has risen 10°. 

I have been questioning Petersen about the bones of the 
musk oxen found in Smith's Sound ; he says the decayed 
skulls of about twenty were found, all of them to the north 
of the 79th parallel. As they were all without lower jaws, 
he says they were killed by Esquimaux, who leave upon the 
spot the skulls of large animals, but the weight of the lower 
jaw being so trifling it is allowed to remain attached to the 
flesh and tongue. The skull of a musk ox with its massive 
horns cannot weigh less than 30 lbs. 

Although it has been abundantly proved by the existence 
of raised beaches and fossils, that the shores of Smith's 
Sound have been elevated within a comparatively recent 
geological period, yet Petersen tells me that there exist 
numerous ruins of Esquimaux buildings, probably one o* 



84 THRIFT OF- THE ARCTIC FOX. Chap. V 

two centuries old, all of which are situated upon very low 
points, only just sufficiently raised above the reach of the 
sea ; such sites, in fact, as would at present be selected by 
the natives. These ruins show that no perceptible change 
has taken place in the relative level of sea and land since 
they were originally constructed. At Petersen's Greenland 
home, Upernivik, the land has sunk, as is plainly shown by 
similar ruins over which the tides now flow. 

Any thing which illustrates the habits of animals in such 
extremely high latitudes I think is most interesting ; their 
instincts must be quickened in proportion as the difficulty 
of subsisting increases. Foxes, white and blue, are very 
numerous ; all the birds are merely summer visitors, there- 
fore the hare is the only creature remaining upon which 
foxes can prey ; but the hares are comparatively scarce : 
how then do the foxes live for eight months of each year ? 
Petersen thinks they store up provisions during the summer 
in various holes and crevices, and thus manage to eke out 
an existence during the dark winter season ; he once saw a 
fox carry off eggs in his mouth from an eider-duck's nest, 
one at a time, until the whole were removed ; and in winter 
he has observed a fox scratch a hole down through very 
deep snow, to a cache of eggs beneath. 

The men are exercised at building snow huts ; for winter 
or early spring traveling, this knowledge is almost indispen- 
sable. . Upon a calm day the temperature of the external 
air being -33°, within a snow hut the thermometer stood 
17° higher, this important difference being due to the trans- 
mission of heat through the ice from the sea beneath. 

Evaporation goes on through ice from the water under- 
neath it. The interior of each snow hut is coated with 
crystals, and the ice upon which the huts are built is four 
feet thick,, but when no longer in contact with water I can- 
not discover any evaporation from ice. For instance, a 



Dec. 1857. THE AURORA. 35 

canvas screen on deck which became wet by the sudden 
thaw last month still remains frozen stiff. 

lith. — Of late there has been much damp upon the lower 
deck. This has now been remedied by enclosing the hatch- 
way within a commodious snow-porch, which serves as a 
condenser for the steam and vapor from the inhabited deck 
below. 

19th. — Light N. W. winds, with occasional mists ; the 
temperature is comparatively mild : -12° to -25°. 

It is now the time of spring-tides ; they cause numerous 
cracks in the ice ; but why so, at such a great distance from 
the land, I cannot explain. The three nearest points of 
land are respectively 110, 140, and 180 miles distant from 
us. 

Much aurora during the last two days. Yesterday morn- 
ing it was visible until eclipsed by the day-dawn at 10 
o'clock. Although we could no longer see it, I do not 
think it ceased : very thin clouds occupied its place, 
through which, as through the aurora, stars appeared 
scarcely dimmed in lustre. I do not imagine that aurora is 
ever visible in a perfectly clear atmosphere. I often ob- 
serve it just silvering or reudering luminous the upper edge 
of low fog or cloud banks, and with a few vertical rays 
feebly vibrating. 

Last evening Dr. "Walker called me to witness his success 
with the electrometer. The electric current was so very 
weak that the gold-leaves diverged at regular intervals of 
four or five seconds. Some hours afterward it was strong 
enough to keep them diverged. 

2lst. — Midwinter day. Out of the Arctic regions it is 
better known as the shortest day. At noon we could just 
read type similar to the leading article of the ' Times." 
Few people could read more than two or three lines without 
their eyes aching. 

2^/?. — Our Christmas was a very cheerful, merry one. 



86 AN ARCTIC CHRISTMAS. Chap. V. 

The men were supplied with several additional articles, such 
as hams, plum-puddings, preserved gooseberries and apples, 
nuts, sweetmeats, and Burton ale. After Divine Service 
they decorated the lower deck with flags, and made an im- 
mense display of food. The officers came down with me to 
see their preparations. We were really astonished ! The 
mess-tables were laid out like the counters in a confec- 
tioner's shop, with apple and gooseberry tarts, plum and 
sponge-cakes in pyramids, besides various other unknown 
puffs, cakes, and loaves of all sizes and shapes. We bake 
all our own bread, and excellent it is. In the background 
were nicely-browned hams, meat-pies, cheeses, and other 
substantial articles. Rum and water in wine-glasses, and. 
plum-cake, were handed to us : we wished them a happy 
Christmas, and complimented them on their taste and spirit 
in getting up such a display. Our silken sledge-banners 
had been borrowed for the occasion, and were regarded with 
deference and peculiar pride. 

In the evening the officers were enticed down amongst the 
men again, and at a late hour I was requested, as a great 
favor, to come down and see how much they were enjoying 
themselves. I found them in the highest good humor with 
themselves and all the world. They were perfectly sober, 
and singing songs, each in his turn. I expressed great 
satisfaction at having seen them enjoying themselves so 
much and so rationally. I could therefore the better de- 
scribe it to Lady Franklin, who was so deeply interested in 
every thing relating to them. I drank their healths, and 
hoped our position next year would be more suitable for 
our purpose. We all joined in drinking the healths of 
Lady Franklin and Miss Cracroft, and amid the acclama- 
tions which followed I returned to my cabin, immensely 
gratified by such an exhibition of genuine good feeling, 
such veneration for Lady Franklin, and such loyalty to the 
cause of the expedition. It was very pleasant also that 



Jan. 1858. NEW TEAR'S DAY. 8T 

they had taken the most cheering view of our future pros- 
pects. I verily believe I was the happiest individual on 
board, that happy evening. 

Our Christmas-box has come in the shape of northerly 
winds, which bid fair to drift us southward toward those 
latitudes wherein we hope for liberation next spring from 
this icy bondage. 

28t7i. — We have been in expectation of a gale all day. 
This evening there is still a doubtful sort of truce amongst 
the elements. Barometer down to 28.83; thermometer up 
to -|-5 , although the wind has been strong and steady from 
the IS", for twenty-four hours, low scud flying from the B., 
snow constantly falling. An hour ago the wind suddenly 
changed to S. S. E. ; the snowing has ceased ; thermometer 
falls and barometer rises. 

2nd Jan. 1858. New-Year's day was a second edition 
of Christmas, and quite as pleasantly spent. We dwelt 
much upon the anticipations of the future, being a more 
agreeable theme than the failure of the past. I con- 
fess to a hearty welcome for the new year — anxious, of 
course, that we may escape uninjured, and sufficiently early 
to pursue the object of our voyage. 

Exactly at midnight, on the 31st December, the arrival 
of the new year was announced to me by our band — two 
flutes and an accordion — striking up at my door. There 
was also a procession, or perhaps I should say a continua- 
tion of the band ; these performers were grotesquely attired, 
and armed with frying pans, gridirons, kettles, pots, and 
pans, with which to join in and add to the effect of the other 
music ! 

We have a very level hard walk alongside the ship ; it is 
narrowed to two or three yards in width by a snow-bank 
four feet high. In the face of this bank some twenty-five 
holes have been excavated for the dogs and in them they 



38 SUFFERINGS OF DR. KANE'S DESERTERS. Chap. V. 

spend most of their time. It looks very formidable in the 
moonlight, being a good imitation of a casemated battery. 

After our rubber of whist on New Year's night, Petersen 
related to us some of his dreadful sufferings when with the 
party of deserters from Dr. Kane. They spent the months 
of October and November in Booth Sound, lat. 11°; all 
that time upon the verge of starvation, unable to advance 
or retreat. For these two months they had no other fuel 
than their small cedar boat, the smoke of which was not en- 
durable in their wretched hut, and without light, for the sun 
left them in October, unless we except one inch-and-a-half 
of taper daily, which they made out of a lump of bees'-wax 
that accidentally found its way into their boat before leav- 
ing the ship. In December they regained their vessel. I 
am surprised that no account of the extreme hardships of 
this party — so far exceeding that of their shipmates on 
board — has ever appeared ; and I regret it, as I believe 
they owed their lives to the experience and fidelity of their 
interpreter Petersen.* At first the Esquimaux assisted 
them; latterly they were quite unable to do so, and became 
anxious to get rid of their visitors. Observing how weak- 
ened they had become, the Esquimaux endeavored to se- 
parate them from their guns and from each other, and even 
used threatening language. 

During December we drifted 61 miles, directly clown 
Baffin's Bay toward the Atlantic, and are now in lat. .74°. 
Although it is quite impossible to discriminate between the 
several influences which probably govern our movements, or 
to ascertain how much is due to each of them — such as the 
relative positions of ice, land, and open water, winds, cur- 
rents and earth's rotation — yet it appears in the present 
instance that the wind is almost the sole agent in hastening 
this vast continent of ice toward the latitudes of its disso- 
lution. We move "before the wind in proportion to its 
strength : we remain stationary in calm weather. Neither 

* For a thrilling account of the sufferings of this party, see "God- 
frey's Narrative of the Kane Arctic Exploring Expedition." 



Jan. 1S58. RETURN OE THE SUN. 89 

surface nor submarine current has been detected ; the large 
icebergs obey the same influences as the surface ice. We 
have noticed a slight set to the westward — it is not likely 
to be produced by current, and may be the result of the 
earth's motion from west to east. 

Wi. — Many lanes of water. A seal has been seen, the 
only one for six weeks. Of the old ice which so closely 
hemmed us in up to the middle of September, there is 
hardly any within several miles of us except the large floe- 
piece we are frozen to. Every crack or lane which opens 
is quickly covered with young ice, so that it cannot close 
again ; and in this manner the old ice has been spread out. 
I rejoice in its dispersion. 

To-day I put a tumblerful of our strong ale (Alsopp's) 
on deck to freeze : this was soon effected, the temperature 
being -35°. After bringing it below, and when its temper- 
ature had risen to 1*1°, it was almost all thawed — at 22° it 
was completely so : it looked muddy, but settled after 
standing for a couple of hours, when I drank it off, in 
every way satisfied with my experiment and my beer ; it 
seemed none the worse for its freezing, but rather flat from 
its long exposure in a tumbler. 

Vlth. — Northerly winds blow almost constantly. We 
have drifted 60 miles since the 1st, and are only 115 miles 
from Upernivik, — once more upon confines of the habitable 
world ! good light for three hours daily ; all this is cheer- 
ing. We continue our snow-hut practice, and can build 
one in three-quarters of an hour. 

28//k — The upper edge of the sun appeared above the 
horizon to-day, after an absence of eighty-nine days ; it was 
a gladdening sight. I sent for the ship's steward, and asked 
what was the custom on such occasions ? " To hoist the 
colors, and serve out an extra half-gill, sir," was the ready 
reply : accordingly, the Harwich lion soon fluttered in a 



90 CONSTANT ACTION OF THE ICE. Chap. V. 

breeze cool enough to stiffen the limbs of ordinary lions, 
and in the evening the grog was issued. 

20th. — Our messmate Pussy is unwell, and won't eat ; in 
vain has Hobsou tempted. her with raw seal's flesh, pre- 
served salmon, preserved milk, etc. ; at length castor-oil 
was forcibly administered. Puss is a great favorite. Our 
finest dog, Sultan, is also sick, and his coat is in bad order; 
blubber has been prescribed for him ; — and poor old Mary 
has fits, not uncommon after the long winter. Petersen im- 
mediately ordered her to be bled by slitting her ear; but 
Christian, in his fright and haste, cropped the tip of it off. 
These comprise our only medical cases. A dovekie, in its 
white winter plumage, and two seals have been seen lately. 

15th Feb. — The returning daylight cheers us up wonder- 
fully — not that we were suffering, either mentally or bodily, 
but the change is most agreeable; we can take much longer 
walks than were possible during the dark period. The men 
have been supplied with muskets, and go out sporting as 
ardently as schoolboys. I took a long walk towards one of 
our iceberg companions, but could not quite reach it, as 
weak ice intervened, each step producing an undulation. 
Finding the point of my knife went through it with but 
very slight resistance, I gave up the attempt and turned 
back. The ship's masts were scarcely visible in the dis- 
tance ; almost the whole of the intervening ice was of this 
winter's growth, and in many places much crushed up. 

Daylight reveals to us evidences of vast ice movements 
having taken place during the dark months when we fancied 
all was still and quiet; and we now see how greatly we have 
been favored, what innumerable chances of destruction we 
have unconsciously escaped ! A few days ago the ice sud- 
denly cracked within ten yards of the ship, and gave her 
such a smart shock that every one rushed on deck with 
astonishing alaeriiy. One of these sudden disruptions oc- 
curred between me and the ship when I was returning from 



Maech, 1858. RETURN OF A DESERTER. 91 

the iceberg ; the sun was just setting as I found myself cut 
off. Had I been on the other side I would have loitered to 
enjoy a refreshing gaze upon this dark streak of water; but 
after a smart run of about a mile along its edge, and finding 
no place to cross, visions of a patrol on the floe for the 
long night of fifteen hours began to obtrude themselves ! 
At length I reached a place where the jagged edges of the 
ftoes met, so crossed and got safely ou board. Nothing 
was seen during this walk of nearly 25 miles except one 
seal. Recent gales have drifted - us rapidly southward; 
cracks and lanes are very numerous. 

On the 1st a blue (or sooty) fox was shot. Although 
130 geographical miles from the nearest land he was very 
fat, hence we argue dovekies were much more numerous 
during winter than we supposed. We have often noticed 
the tracks of foxes following up those of the bears, pro- 
bably for discarded scraps of the seals upon which they prey. 
Hobson's favorite dog "Chummie" has returned, after an ab- 
sence of six days, decidedly hungry, but he can hardly have 
been without food all that time; some fox may have lured 
him off. He evinced great delight in getting back, devoted 
his first attentions to a hearty meal, then rubbed himself up 
against his own particular associates, after which he sought 
out and attacked the weakest of his enemies, and, soothed 
by their bowlings, coiled himself up for a long sleep. 

1st March. — February has been a remarkably mild, 
cloudy, windy month : the winter temperature may be said 
to have passed away by the 10th, the average temperature 
for the first ten days being -25°, whilst for the remainder 
of the month it was -11°. Had one fallen asleep for a 
month at least, he could not reasonably have expected to 
find a greater change on awaking. Our drift has been also 
great, — 166 miles. We are south of the 70th parallel, and 
may soon be expelled from our icy home. 

On the 24th there was a fearful gale of wind. Had not 



92 COURSE OF DRIFT. Chap. V 

our housing been very well secured, it must have been blown 
away. We are preparing for sea, removing the snow from 
off the deck and round the ship ; our skylights have been 
dug out (in winter they are always covered with a thick 
layer of snow), and the flood of light which beams down 
through them is quite charming. How intolerably sooty 
and smoke-dried everything looks. 

On the 27th the first seal of this year was shot ; it came 
in good time, for the fifty-one seals shot in autumn were 
finished only two days before : our English supply of dogs' 
food therefore remains almost untouched. Snow was ob- 
served to melt against the ship's side exposed to the sun, 
the thermometer in the shade standing at -22° 1 A very 
fine dog has died from eating a quantity of salt fish, which 
he managed to get at, although it was supposed to be quite 
out of his reach. 

One of the two large icebergs which commenced this 
voyage with us last October, in 751° N., has drifted out of 
sight to the S.E., the other one is far off in the jST.W. I 
attribute these increased distances solely to the' spreading 
abroad of the intervening ice. 

When we were far north, and probably drifting more 
slowly than the ice in the stream of Lancaster Sound to the 
westward of us, the ship's head turned very gradually from 
right to left, from N .N. W. to W. ; when about the parallel 
of '72° N., we supposed ourselves to be drifting faster than 
the western ice ; in this, as in the previous case, comparing 
our drift with that of Lieutenant De Haven, the ship's head 
slowly shifted back to the right as far as W. 1ST. W. ; latterly 
it has not changed at all : we are in a narrower part of 
Davis' Strait, where the winds probably blow with equal 
force from shore to shore and drift the whole pack at a 
uniform rate. 

5th. — On the 2nd four fat seals and some dovekies were 
shot; the largest seal weighed 1T0 lbs., the smallest 150 



Mab. 1858. DISCO SIGHTED. 93 

lbs. ; they were males of the species Phoca liespida, or 
Phoca foetida, the latter epithet being by far the most ap- 
propriate at this season ; the disagreeable odor resembles 
garlic, and taints the whole animal so strongly that even 
Esquimaux are nearly overpowered by it : this is almost 
the only description of seal we have obtained, but the 
females are at all seasons free from fetor. Several long 
lanes of water extend at right angles to the straits. 

The Doctor has taken a photograph of the ship by the 
albumen process on glass ; the temperature at the time was 
below zero. Upon the 3rd and 4th a well-remarked revolv- 
ing storm passed nearly over us to the W. N". W. ; its ex- 
treme diameter was 30 hours, that of the strength of the 
gale 18 hours; its centre probably passed about one-tenth 
of its diameter to the S. W. The barometer was rather 
high, having risen just before the wind commenced at N. E. ; 
but it now fell half an inch in ten hours, and continued to 
fall until the wind shifted — almost suddenly — through S. E. 
to S. S. W. ; immediately the barometer got up rapidly. 
As the barometer fell, the temperature rose from zero to 
-f 18°, and fell again after the change of wind. This 
violent storm brought with it a smart hail-shower. 

The depression of the ice about the bows, in consequence 
of a vast accumulation of snow-drift upon it, brought the 
ship down by the head considerably ; to-day this ice sud- 
denly detached itself, and the fore part of the vessel sprang 
up; she still remains frozen and held down abaft. The 
snow-banking looks very woe-begone after this ice-quake; 
it inclines out from the ship, and in many places has been 
prostrated by the shock. 

Early on the morning of the Tth the high land of Disco 
was seen ; its distance was upwards of 90 miles. * 



94 A BEAR FIGHT. Chap. VL 



CHAPTER VI. 

A bear-fight — An ice-nip — Strong gales, rapid drift — The 'Fox' breaks 
out of the pack — Hanging on to floe-edge — The Arctic bear — An ice 
tournament — The 'Fox' in peril — A storm in the pack — Escape from 
the pack. 

Qth March. — A bear was seen this morning 1 ; but as he 
was going away from us, the dogs were brought out in the 
hope that they might keep him at bay until the sportsmen 
came up. It was very pretty to see them take up the scent, 
the moment they caught sight of him they set off at full 
speed. Bruin had seen them first, and increased his pace 
to a clumsy gallop, yet the dogs were soon around him ; he 
seemed to care but little about them, steadily making off 
and following the trending of a recently frozen crack in 
search of clear water, evidently aware that his persecutors 
would uot follow him there. 

After five hours all returned on board again ; out of the 
ten dogs four were wounded by his claws, — skin deep only, 
but one of the wounds was seven inches inches in length, 
as if made with a sharp knife 1 this was sewed up, the 
others were merely trimmed, and nature, I am informed, 
will do all the rest. It is really wonderful what cures 
nature and instinct effect : notwithstanding the extreme 
cold, no Internal dressings are applied, because the animal 
must not be prevented from licking its wound. Petersen 
says this bear must be very thin, else he could not run so 
fast. I think it very probable that he has been hunted 



Mar. 1S58. AN ICE-NIP. 95 

before, and that fear lent him wings. A black whale has 
been seen. 

11//?.. — Two small seals free from taint were shot yester- 
day, so we had fried liver and steaks for breakfast this 
morning ; both were good, but the steaks were preferred ; 
they were very dark and very tender, had been cut thin, de- 
prived of all fat, and washed in two or three waters to get 
rid of the blubber. 

I6//1. — Several long lanes of water have again opened, 
but now all of them extend parallel to the direction of the 
straits ; one lane passed within 120 yards of the ship ; its 
extremes are not visible even from aloft ; the ice upon its 
east side has a more rapid southerly motion than that upon 
its west side. 

I8//1. — Last night the ice closed, shutting up our lane, 
but its opposite sides continued for several hours to move 
past each other, rubbing off all projections, crushing and 
forcing out of water masses four feet thick : although 120 
yards distant, this pressure shook the ship and cracked the 
intervening ice. 

I went out with a lantern to see the nip, — it certainly was 
awe-inspiring ; no one in his senses could avoid reflecting 
upon the inevitable fate of a ship if exposed to such fearful 
pressure. It is now spring tides. 

19th. — All yesterday the lane remained open; in the 
evening it closed with but slight pressure ; yet as the op- 
posing fields of ice continued to move in opposite directions, 
all jagged points were brushed off, and the debris thus 
formed between their edges presented a heaving surface of 
ice-masses, — an ice river. On the separation of the floes, 
mass after mass forced itself up to the surface, until at 
length all the submerged ice had risen, except such as had 
been forced quite under their edges. One seldom meets 
with a cleanly fractured floe-edge, they are usually fringed 
with crushed-up ice or newly formed sludge. 



96 STRONG GALES. . Chap. VI. 

23rd. — Seals and dovekies are now common ; the latter 
have already made considerable advances toward their sum- 
mer plumage. 

Yesterday there was a very heavy S. E. gale ; it blew so 
furiously, and the snow-drift was so dense, that we could 
neither hear nor see what was going on twenty yards off; 
at night the ship, becoming suddenly detached from the ice, 
heeled over to the storm ; until the cause was ascertained 
we thought the ice had broken up and pressed against the 
ship. It was not so ; but when the weather moderated we 
found that there had been heavy pressure upon the edge of 
the floes, — so much, indeed, that the lane of water was now 
within TO yards of the ' Fox ;' and that ice 4J feet thick had 
been crushed during the storm for a distance of about 50 
yards. 

25th. — Strong N". W. winds lately, the ship rocking to 
the breeze, and rubbing her poor sides against the ice, pro- 
ducing a creaking sound which is far from pleasant. More 
ice squeezing, and a further inroad upon our barrier ; it has 
yielded slightly, nipping the ship, inclining her to port, and 
lifting her stern about a foot. Occasional groanings within, 
and surgings of the ice without. 

Our boats, provisions, sledges, knapsacks, and equipment, 
are ready for a hasty departure, — beyond this we can do 
nothing; as long as our friendly barrier lasts we need not 
fear, but who can tell the moment it may be demolished, and 
the ship exposed to destruction ? I am scribbling within a 
foot of the sternpost — in fact, there is a notch in my table 
to receive it ; and I sympathize with its constant groanings ; 
the ice allows it no rest. 

2*Jth. — Strong N. W. gale with a return of cold weather. 
We have drifted 39 milet in the last forty-eight hours ! 
The lane is open ; the whole pack appears to have plenty 
of room to drift, and, I am happy to add, is taking advant- 
age of it, — so much so. that the smaller pieces floating freely 



Apr. 1858. BREAKING UP OF ICE. 97 

in the lane can hardly go at the same pace. Our remaining 
winter companion, the iceberg, was in sight a few days ago, 
far away to the N. W. ; it may be still visible from aloft, 
but these March gales cut so keenly, that the crow's-nest is 
but seldom visited. 

Blst.— Another N. W. gale ; it is also spring tides, and 
this conjunction makes one fearful of ice movement and 
pressure ; but it seems as if the pack had more room to 
move in, as it does not close much. Seals are often shot, 
bear tracks are common, and narwhals are frequently seen 
migrating northward. The bears must prefer the night- 
time for wandering about, else we could not help seeing 
them ; we often find their tracks within a few hundred yards 
of the ship. 

Although the last, yet this is the coldest day of the 
month — the thermometer down to -21°. The mean tem- 
perature for March has been unusually high, -3° ; whilst 
Lieutenant De Haven's was -11°. Notwithstanding that 
heavy S. E. gales have three times driven us backward, yet 
we have advanced 100 miles further down Davis' Straits. 

6th April. — To-day we enjoy fine weather, the more so 
since it comes after a tremendous northerly gale of forty- 
eight hourss' duration. Two days ago the friendly old floe, 
so long our bulwark of defence, was cracked; the lane of 
water thus formed soon widened to 60 yards, passed within 
30 yards of the 'Fox,' and cut off three of our boats. 
Yesterday morning another crack detached the remaining 
30 yards from us, and as it widened the ship swung across- 
the opening ; as quickly as we could effect it the ship was 
again placed alongside the ice and within a projecting 
point ; had it closed only a few feet whilst she lay across- 
the lane, the consequences must have been very serious. 
Even to effect this slight change of position we were fully 
occupied for four hours ; for the gale blew furiously, and 
thermometer stood at 12° below zero, and the cold was very 
7 



98 OUT OF THE PACK. Chap. VI. 

much felt ; our hawsers were frozen so stiff as to be quite 
unmanageable, and we were obliged to use the chain cables 
to warp the ship into safety. 

Throughout yesterday the wind continued extremely 
strong and keen, — fortunately the ice remained perfectly 
still : our funnels refused to draw up the smoke ; so that 
between the suffocation, the cold, and anxiety lest the ice 
should move, our Easter Monday was sufficiently miserable. 
The half of our poor dogs were cut off from the ship by 
the lane, and continued to howl dismally until late, when 
the new ice over the lane was strong enough to bear them, 
and they came across to us. 

To-day we have recovered the boats, shot four seals, seen 
two whales, and much water to the eastward ; we are in 
latitude 61° 18' K, and highly delighted with the rapidity 
of our southern drift. 

10th. — Yesterday evening the setting sun rendered visible 
the western land, probably Cape Dyer. We have drifted 
TO miles in the last week, and are only 18 miles from De 
Haven's position of escape ; but as we are two months 
earlier, we must expect to be carried farther south. 

12lh. — This morning we drifted ingloriously out of the 
Arctic regions, and with what very different feelings from 
those with which we crossed the Arctic circle eight months 
ago! However, we have not done with it yet ; directly the 
ice lets us go, we will (I).V.) re-enter the frigid zone, and 
"try again," with, I trust, better success. 

A gull and a few terns appeared • to-day ; these are the 
first of our summer visitors. The temperature improves ; 
yesterday at one o'clock it was +19° in the shade, — 1-15 
in the crow's nest TO feet high, and -f51° against a black 
surface exposed to the sun. 

lQth. — Last night a bear came to the ship, was wounded 
but escaped ; to-day the tracks were followed up for three 
miles, the bear found, and again wounded — finally the un* 



Apr. 185S. DOGS LOST. 99 

lucky beast was shot in the water seven miles from the 
the ship ; it was lost in consequence of the rapid drifting 
of the ice, which ran over the floating carcase. 

To-night a dense fog-bank rests upon the water to the 
southward ; its upper edge is illuminated by aurora, show- 
ing a faint tremulous light. 

11th. — Another northerly gale; holding fast to the ice 
with three hawsers ; snow-drift limits the view to a couple 
of miles, so all to the eastward appears water, and to the 
westward ice. 

Last night the ice opened considerably : to secure the 
ship occupied us for six hours ; several of the dogs were 
again cut off; as the ice they were on was rapidly drifting 
away, I sent a boat to recover them ; it was a difficult and 
hazardous business, but at length the boat and dogs re- 
turned in safety, to my great relief, for it was both dark and 
late. . 

ISth. — Yesterday morning when I wrote up my journal, 
I was hoping to hold on quietly to the floe-edge until the 
wind moderated, when with clear weather we could take 
advantage of the openings and make some progress towards 
the clear sea. We were unable to hold on, for the floe- 
edge broke away, setting us adrift ; some time was occupied 
in fetching off the boats and dogs, — five of the latter unfor- 
tunately would not allow themselves to be caught. As speed- 
ily as possible the rudder was shipped and sail set, and be- 
fore three o'clock the ship was running fast to the eastward J 
During the night the ice closed, and at daylight scarcely 
any water was visible ; with the exception of a couple of 
icebergs, all the ice in sight was not more than two days 
old ; it mainly owes its origin and rapid growth to the 
immense quantities of snow blown off the pack. 

It still blows hard, and the thermometer stands at 11°. 
A sudden opening of the ice this forenoon allowed us to 



100 THE ARCTIC BEAR. Chap. VI. 

run a few miles southward, and then it closed again ; we 
are now surrounded by young ice. 

20th. — We have been carried rapidly past the position 
where the Arctic discovery ship ' Resolute' was picked up. 

Yesterday three bears, a fulmar petrel, and a snow-bunt- 
ing were seen ; to-day a fine bear came within 150 yards, 
and was shot by our sportsmen ; as they were standing 
round it afterwards upon the ice, a small seal, the only one 
seen for several days, popped up its head as if to exult 
over its fallen enemy — it was of course instantly shot ; 
we have learnt to esteem seal's liver for breakfast very 
highly. 

It seems hardly right to call polar bears land animals ; 
they abound here, — 110 geographical miles from the nearest 
land, — upon very loose broken-up ice, which is steadily 
drifting into the Atlantic at the rate of 12 or 14 miles 
daily ; to remain upon it would insure their destruction if 
were they not nearly amphibious ; they hunt by scent, and 
are constantly running across and against the wind, which 
prevails from the northward, so that the same instinct 
which directs their search for prey, also serves the import- 
ant purpose of guiding them in the direction of the land 
and more solid ice. 

I remarked that the upper part of both Bruin's forepaws 
were rubbed quite bare ; Petersen explains that to surprise 
the seal a bear crouches down with his forepaws doubled 
underneath, and pushes himself noiselessly forward with his 
hinder legs until within a few yards, when he springs upon 
the unsuspecting victim, whether in the water or upon the 
ice. The Greenlanders are fond of bear's flesh, but never 
eat either the heart or liver, and say that these parts cause 
sickness. No instance is known of Greenland bears attack- 
ing men, except when wounded or provoked ; they never 
disturb the Esquimaux graves, although they seldom fail to 



Ap&. 1858. THE OCEAN SWELL. jqj 

rob a cache of seal's flesh, which is a similar construction 
of loose stones above ground. 

A native of Upernivik, one dark winter's day, was out 
visiting his seal-nets. He found a seal entangled, and, 
whilst kneeling down over it upon the ice to get it clear, he 
received a slap on the back — from his companion as he sup- 
posed ; but a second and heavier blow made him look 
smartly round. He was horror-stricken to see a peculiarly 
grim old bear instead of his comrade ! without deigning 
further notice of the man, Bruin tore the seal out of the net 
and commenced his supper. He was not interrupted ; nor 
did the man wait to see the meal finished. 

I had long ago resolved, if we escaped before the 15th, 
or the 20th April at the latest, to go to Newfoundland to 
refresh the crew and to refit, even if no damage from the ice 
should be sustained. In order to do so it would have been 
necessary for us to visit a Greenland port for a supply of 
water. We could not have calculated upon much assistance 
from our engines upon such a voyage, Mr. Brand alone 
being capable of working the engines, so that ten or twelve 
hours daily is all the steaming that could have been ex- 
pected. 

But we are still ice-locked, so I purpose going to Hol- 
steinborg in preference to a more southern port, as there 
we may expect to get reindeer and a small supply of stores 
suitable to our wants. The whalers sometimes reach Dieeo 
in March, Upernivik in May, and the North Water early in 
June. Unless we should be at once set free, we would not 
have time to spare for a Newfoundland voyage. 

2ith. — Another anxious week has passed. Latterly we 
have experienced southwesterly currents similar to those 
which Parry describes when beset here in June, 1819. To- 
day we have had a strong S. E. breeze, with snow and dark 
weather. The wind had greatly moderated when the swell 
reached us about eight o'clock this evening. It is now ten 



1_02 AN ICE-TOURNAMENT. Chap. VI. 

o'clock ; the long ocean swell already lifts its crest five feet 
above the hollow of the sea, causing its thick covering of 
icy fragments to dash against each other and against us 
with unpleasant violence. It is however very beautiful to 
look upon, the dear old familiar ocean-swell ! it has long 
been a stranger to us, and is welcome in our solitude. If 
the 'Fox' was as solid as her neighbors, I am quite sure she 
would enter into this ice-tournament with all their apparent 
heartiness, instead of audibly making known her sufferings 
to us. Every considerable surface of ice has been broken 
into many smaller ones ; with feelings of exultation I watched 
the process from aloft. A floe-piece near us, of 100 yards 
in diameter, was speedily cracked so as to resemble a sort 
of labyrinth, or, still more, a field-spider's web. In the 
course of half an hour the family resemblance was totally 
lost; they had so battered each other, and struggled out of 
their original regularity. The rolling sea can no longer be 
checked ; "the pack has taken upon itself the functions of 
an ocean," as Dr. Kane graphically expresses it. 

26$.. — At sea ! How am I to describe the events of the 
last two days ? It has pleased God to accord to us a de- 
liverance in which His merciful protection contrasts — how 
strongly ! — with our own utter helplessness ; as if the suc- 
cessive mercies vouchsafed to us during our long, long 
winter and mysterious ice-drift had been concentrated and 
repeated in a single act. Thus forcibly does His great 
goodness come home to the mind ! 

I am in no humor for writing, being still tired, seedy, and 
perhaps a little seasick ; at least I have a headache, caused 
by the rolling of the ship and rattling noise of everything. 

On Saturday night, the 24th, I went on deck to spend 
the greater part of it in watching, and to determine what 
to do. The swell greatly increased ; it had evidently been 
approaching for hours before it reached us, since it rose in 
proportion as the ice was broken up into smaller pieces. 



Apr. 1S58. THE 'FOX' IN PERIL. 103 

In a short time but few of them were equal in size to the 
ship's deck ; most of them not half so large. I knew that 
near the pack-edge the sea would be very heavy and dan- 
gerous ; but the wind was now fair, and having auxiliary 
steam-power, I resolved to push out of the ice if possible. 

Shortly after midnight the ship was under sail, slowly 
boring her way to the eastward ; at two o'clock on Sunday 
morning commenced steaming, the wind having failed. By 
eight o'clock we had advanced considerably to the east- 
ward, and the swell had become dangerously high, the 
waves rising ten feet above the trough of the sea. The 
shocks of the ice against the ship were alarmingly heavy ; 
it became necessary to steer exactly head-on to swell. We 
slowly passed a small iceberg 60 or 70 feet high ; the swell 
forced it crashing through the pack, leaving a small water- 
space in its wake, but sufficient to allow the seas to break 
against its cliffs, and throw the spray in heavy showers 
quite over its summit. 

The day wore on without change, except that the snow 
and mists cleared off. Gradually the swell increased, and 
rolled along more swiftly, becoming in fact a very heavy 
regular sea, rather than a swell". The ice often lay so 
closely packed that we could hardly force ahead, although 
the fair wind had again freshened up. Much heavy hum- 
mocky ice and large berg-pieces lay dispersed through the 
pack ; a single thump from any of them would have been 
instant destruction. By five o'clock the ice became more 
loose, and clear spaces of water could be seen ahead. We 
went faster, received fewer though still more severe shocks, 
until at length we had room to steer clear of the heaviest 
pieces ; and at eight o'clock we emerged from the villanous 
"pack," and were running fast through straggling pieces 
into a clear sea. The engines were stopped, and Mr. Brand 
permitted to rest after eighteen hours' duty, for we now 
have no one else capable of driving the engines, 



104 DANGER FROM ICE-MASSES. Chap. VI. 

Throughout the day I trembled for the safety of the rud- 
der, and screw ; deprived of the one or the other, even for 
half an hour, I think our fate would have been sealed ; to 
have steered in any other direction than against the swell 
would have exposed, and probably sacrificed both. 

Our bow is very strongly fortified, well plated externally 
with iron, and so very sharp that the ice-masses, repeatedly 
hurled against the ship by the swell as she rose to meet it, 
were thus robbed of their destructive force ; they struck us 
obliquely, yet caused the vessel to shake violently, the bells 
to ring, and almost knocked us off our legs. On many oc- 
casions the engines were stopped dead by ice choking the 
screw ; once it was some minutes before it could be got to 
revolve again. Anxious moments those L 

After yesterday's experience I can understand how men's 
hair has turned gray in a few hours. Had self-reliance been 
my only support and hope, it is not impossible that I might 
have illustrated the fact. Under the circumstances I did 
my best to insure our safety, looked as stoical as possible, 
and inwardly trusted that God would favor our exertions. 
What a release ours has been, not only from eight months' 
imprisonment, but from the perils of that one day 1 Had 
our little vessel bee"n destroyed after the ice broke up, there 
remained no hope for us. But we have been brought safely 
through, and are all truly grateful, I hope, and believe. 

I grieve to think of poor Lady Franklin and our friends 
at home. Severely as we have felt the failure of our first 
season's operations, yet the ordeal is now over with us : not 
so with her and them, — they have still to experience that 
bitter disappointment. 

Our distance within the pack-edge, where we first made 
sail yesterday, was 22 miles. Before we got clear of the 
ice the height of the waves was 13^ feet; after passing 
through the last of it there was no increase, but the sea was 
more confused ; in fact, within the ice all minor disturbances 



Apr. 1858. STEERING FOR HOLSTEINBORG. 105 

were quelled or merged into one regular fast-following swell. 
The ship and her machinery behaved most admirably in the 
struggle; should I ever have to pass through such an ice- 
covered, heaving ocean again, let me secure a passage in the 
'Fox.' 

During our 242 days in the packed-ice of Baffin's Bay 
and Davis' Straits we were drifted 1194 geographical or 
1385 statute miles ; it is the longest drift I know of, and our 
winter, as a whole, may be considered as having been mild, 
but very windy. 

We are steering now for Holsteinborg, where I intend to 
refit and refresh the crew ; it is reputed to be the best place 
for reindeer upon the coast. 



106 ANCHORED AT HOLSTEINBORG. Chap. VIL 



CHAPTER VII. 

A holiday in Greenland — A lady blue with the cold — The loves of Green- 
landers — Close shaving — Meet the whalers — Information of whalers— 
Disco — Danish hospitality — Sail from Disco — Kindness of the whalers 
—Danish establishments in Greenland. 

Wednesday night, April 2$th. — Safely anchored at 
Holsteinborg, and moored to the rocks ; a charming change, 
after onr position only a few days back. We have been 
visited by the Danish residents — the chief trader or gover- 
nor, the priest, and two others : their latest European in- 
telligence is not more recent than our own, but the Danish 
ship is hourly expected ; she usually leaves Copenhagen 
about the middle of March. 

The winter here has been just the reverse of our own ex- 
perience ; it has been severe in point of temperature, but 
with very little wind; the land lies buried in snow, and as 
yet there is no thaw ; it is too early for the codfishery, and 
not a single reindeer has been killed throughout the winter! 
Eider-ducks, looms and dovekies -are abundant, as well as 
hares and ptarmigan. 

29th. — A bright and lovely day. Our poor, half-famished 
dogs have been landed near the carcases of four whales, so 
they must be supremely happy. I visited the Governor to- 
day, and found his little wooden house as scrupulously 
clean and neat as the houses of the Danish residents in 
Greenland invariably are. The only ornaments about the 
room were portraits of his unfortunate wife and two chil- 
dren : they embarked at Copenhagen last year to rejoin him, 



May, 1858. HOLIDAY IN GREENLAND. 107 

and the ill-fated vessel has never since been heard of. Poor 
Governor Elberg is in ill health, and talks of returning 
home — by home lie means Denmark, the land of his birth, 
and where once he had a home. 

3077). — This is a grand Danish holiday: the inhabitants 
are all dressed in their Sunday clothes — at least, all who 
have got a change of garments — and there is both morning 
and evening service in the small wooden church. As the 
Governor could not be pei'suaded to unlock the door of the- 
dance-house, our men returned on board early ; yesterday 
evening they were all on shore, and, with the Esquimaux, 
were squeezed into this one large room : to be squeezed in a 
crowd of human beings is positive enjoyment after a win- 
ter's isolation such as ours has been. Old Harvey consti- 
tuted himself master of the ceremonies, and with his flute 
led the orchestra ; it consisted of one other flute and a fiddle ; 
he managed to perch himself above all the rest, at one end 
of the room, and played with such vigor that our bluejack- 
ets and the Esquimaux ladies danced away most furiously 
for hours. These ladies can dance in the least possible 
space, their costume being particularly well adapted for the 
purpose, partaking as it does much more of the "Bloomer" 
than the "crinoline." 

Christian looks immensely happy : his countrymen regard 
him as a man whose fortune is made, and the women gaze 
with admiration upon his neat sailor's dress, and his good- 
natured, full, round face, and huge fat shining cheeks ; Mr. 
Petersen is in great request to interpret between the En- 
glish, Danes, and Esquimaux. 

*llh May. — I intended sailing for Disco this morning, but 
wind and weather were adverse. "We have obtained but 
little here- except water, a tolerable supply of rock cod, 
some ptarmigan, hares, wildfowl, and a few items of stores. 
The Governor now thinks the Danish ship must have been 
instructed to visit Godhaab before coming here. We have 



X08 A CHRISTENING. Chap. VIL 

left letters to go home in her, and they ought to be in En- 
gland by the end of June. 

I visited to-day a small lake at the foot of Mount Cun- 
ningham ; it is said to occupy the centre of an extinct vol- 
cano : but I saw nothing to bear out the assertion. This 
is the only part of Greenland where earthquakes are felt. 
The Governor told me of an unusually severe shock which 
occurred a winter or two ago. He was sitting in his room 
reading at the time, when he heard a loud noise like the 
discharge of a cannon; immediately afterwards a tremulous 
motion was felt, some glasses upon the table began to dance 
about, and papers lying on the window-sill fell down : after 
a few seconds it ceased. He thinks the motion originated 
at the lake, as it was not felt by some people beyond it, and 
that it passed from 1ST. E. to S. W. 

This mountain scenery is really charming; but a little 
more animal life — reindeer, for instance — would make it far 
more pleasing in our eyes. The last twelvemonth's produce 
of this district amounts only to 500 reindeer skins instead 
of 3000, as in ordinary years. The clergyman of Holstein- 
borg was born in this colony, and has succeeded his father 
in the priestly office ; his wife is the only European female 
in the colony. Being told that fuel was extremely scarce 
in the Danish houses, and that "the priest's wife was blue 
with the cold," I sent on shore a present of some coals. 

On Sunday afternoon, hearing the church bell ringing I 
went on shore. It proved to be only a christening. The 
little dusky infant received a long string of European 
names. There was a small description of barrel organ, to 
the sound of which the congregation joined in, keeping aloud 
monotonous chant. Most of the young people had hymn- 
books in their hands, printed in the Esquimaux language. 

■Ravens seem very abundant, also large grey falcons : per- 
haps the dead whales may have attracted an unusual num- 
ber. 



Mat, 1857. LEAVE HOLSTEINBOEG. 109 

Poor Christian has not only fallen desperately in love, 
but has engaged himself to the object of his affections, a 
pretty Esquimaux girl. He asked me to-day to give her 
a passage up to Godhavn, as he wished to leave her in 
charge of his mother until his return there with us next 
year, when his engagement for the voyage would be fulfilled. 
Having heard a rumor of a young woman awaiting his re- 
turn to Godhavn, I taxed him with it, but he replied with 
great simplicity that " he had never promised her, and 
would not marry her, as his friends objected to the match 1" 
What are the good Greenlanders coming to ? I recommended 
that he should leave his betrothed in her own home, with 
her mother and family. " His asking a passage for her, in 
order to leave her with his mother, is strong proof of the 
sincerity of his engagement, not only to his lady love, but 
to the ' Fox' also. 

I have written to the Admiralty to account for my pro- 
longed absence from England ; and to Dr. Rink to acquaint 
him with the cause of my second visit to his inspectorate. 

Governor Elberg has promised to get me some fossil fish, 
to be found only in North Strom Fiord : they are interest- 
ing, as being of unknown geological date. 

10th. — On the morning of the 8th we left Holsteinborg 
with a pleasant land wind and bright weather. When 15 
miles off shore we were stopped by ice formed during the last 
two nights, the thermometer having fallen to 12° ; out in 
the offing the weather was gloomy and cold, and strong 
northerly winds were blowing. On closing the land again, 
we regained the offshore wind and bright weather. 

Keeping close along shore, and threading our way through 
a vast deal of " pack" and numerous icebergs, we gained 
sight of Disco about noon to-day, and by the evening were 
within an hour's sail of Godhavn, when we were again 
stopped by a broad belt of ice stretching along the coast j 
this was a bitter disappointment, more particularly as a gale 



110 SUMMER. Chap. VII. 

of wind with heavy sea was fast rising, and snow beginning 
to fall thickly; there was nothing for it, however, but to 
stand off under easy sail for the night. 

Vlth. — At anchor at the Whalefish Islands. On the even- 
ing of the 10th we stood off from the inhospitable barrier 
of ice, prepared to meet the storm ; snow fell so thickly that 
we could hardily see the icebergs in time to avoid them. 
We supposed ourselves to be well to leeward of the Whale- 
fish Islands, but were deceived by the tides; suddenly 
a small, low islet was seen on the lee bow ; not being able 
to pass to windward, we were obliged to wear ship, and, in 
doing so, passed within the ship's length of destruction — for 
we were certainly within that distance of the rocks 1 The 
islet w r as covered with snow, and but for some very few 
dark points showing through, it could not be distinguished 
from ice. On the 11th the weather improved, and in the 
evening we came to our present anchorage. From a hill we 
can watch an opportunity to enter Godbavn. Notwithstand- 
ing the blowing weather, some natives came about five 
miles off to us ; the water washed over their little kayaks, 
and kept the occupants' sealskin dresses streaming with wet 
up to their shoulders ; this part of their dress seems rather 
part of the kayak, as it is attached to it round the hole in 
which the kayaker sits, so that no water can enter. It is 
wonderful to see how closely a man can assimilate his habits 
to those of a fish. 

The Danish cooper in charge of this out-station tells us 
there are thirteen English whalers already out, and some of 
them have been up to the north end of Disco ; two vessels 
are in sight. The world, it appears, is at peace. Petersen 
was at one time in charge of this station ; he is now seeking 
out his old acquaintances. 

\iih. — Summer has suddenly burst upon us — thermome- 
ter up to 40°; moreover, we are enjoying English newspa- 
pers, and have dined off roast beef and vegetables ! 



Mat, 1858. UNUSUAL POSITION OF ICE. HI 

Two days ago I sent a note off to a whaler by a kayak, 
requesting her captain to lend me some newspapers ; the 
note reached Captain J. Walker, of the ' Jane,' and yester- 
day his ship, accompanied by the ' Heroine,' Captain J. 
Simpson, approached us, and they both came in to call 
upon me, each of them bringing the very acceptable present 
of some newspapers, besides a quarter of beef, with vege- 
tables. Nothing could exceed their sincere good feeling 
and kindness; they offered to supply me with any thing 
their ships could afford. The account they gave of last 
season is as follows : the whalers reached Devil's Point, 
near Melville Bay, as early as the 21st of May: southerly 
winds set in, and blew incessantly for six weekls, during all 
which time they were closely beset, and the ships ' Gipsey' 
and ' Undaunted' were crushed. When able to move, the 
fleet returned southward along the "pack-edge," which was 
everywhere found to be impenetrable ; they sailed south- 
ward of Disco, and about the middle of July the earliest 
ships rounded the southern extremity of middle ice in lat. 
62^°, and found no difficulty in their further passage to 
Pond's Bay. Captain Walker says ships could not have 
reached Lancaster Sound, as there was much ice north of 
Pond's Bay which he thought extended quite across to Mel- 
ville Bay. 

The position of the ice last season was considered to be 
most unusual ; the long prevalence of southerly winds ap- 
peared to have separated the tail of the pack from the main 
body, the former lying against the west land about Cape 
Searle, whilst the latter was forced northward and pressed 
closely into Melville Bay ; the ships sailed freely between 
these two great divisions, and found the west water unusu- 
sually extensive. 

Had I been able to collect a sufficient number of sledge- 
dogs at Godhavn last year, it was my intention to have 
sailed across to the west side if possible, instead of pur- 



112 UNCERTAINTY OF ICE-NAVIGATION. Chap. VII. 

suing the usual route through Melville Bay ; but the 
opinions of the captains of the lost whalers were in favor 
of a "Melville Bay" passage, and the necessity for obtain- 
ing clogs left me no choice as to whether I should proceed 
west, or north to Proven and Upernivik; I have already 
recorded what were my opinions at the time, so need only 
observe now that, although I failed, I believe my decision 
was justified by all former experience, even independently 
of the circumstances which obliged me to adopt it. Never- 
theless it is mortifying to find that ships had reached as far 
as Pond's Bay, and with but little difficulty. Sir Edward 
Parry, upon his third voyage, did not reach the west water 
until very late in the season, although some of the whalers 
met with better success by following up another route. 

There is nothing more uncertain than ice-navigation, de- 
pendent as it is upon winds, temperatures, and currents ; 
one can calculate upon "the chances," and how nearly we 
succeeded we have already seen. In the preceding year 
(1856) some of the whalers got through Melville Bay as 
early as the 15th June, only a few days after the commence- 
ment of the summer's thaw. Captain Walker tells me 
there are many years in which the whalers can. pass up the 
western shore late in the season, but not always so far as 
Pond's Bay; of Melville Bay after the 10th or 15th July 
they know nothing, but the voyages of discovery afford us 
ample details ; whilst of the southern route almost nothing 
has been made publicly known. 

There are many intelligent whaling captains who possess 
much valuable knowledge of these lands and seas, and eyen 
in the terra incognita of Frobisher's Straits, whalers have 
wintered, whilst our charts scarcely afford even a vague 
idea of the configuration of these extensive islands. The 
so-called " Home Bay" has been penetrated for fifty miles, 
and is supposed to be a strait leading to Fox's Furthest. 
Scott's Inlet is also said to be a strait leading into a wes- 



May, 1858. DANISH HOSPITALITY. H3 

tern arm of the same sea. A surveying vessel would be 
usefully employed for a couple of summers in tracing the 
general outline of these possessions of Her Majesty, more 
particularly as they are rather thickly inhabited by Esqui- 
maux most eager to barter their produce for rifles, saws, 
files, knives, needles, and such like articles. Good coal has 
been found upon Durbin Island (near Cape Searle), in a 
convenient little cove upon its southern side ; and as the old 
sailing whalers are fast being replaced by steamers, this 
place may become of great importance to them. 

We are refitting, shooting, and devouring quantities of 
excellent mussels ; eider ducks are very abundant, but ex- 
tremely shy. Poor Puss has been killed ; tempted on deck 
by the unusually warm weather, she* was pounced upon by 
the dogs. 

11th. — Yesterday our attempt to enter the port of God- 
haven failed, it is still filled with ice. This evening Young 
and I examined a narrow rocky cove — Upernivik Bay of 
the natives ; finding it suitable for our purpose, the ship 
was brought in and moored to the rocks. We were received.- 
with much kindness by our friends Mr. and Mrs. Olrik, and' 
were presented with a file of late English papers. A con- 
siderable supply of beer was ordered to be brewed for us. 

I found Mrs. Olrik without a fire in her sitting room ; it- 
was unnecessary ; the windows looked to the south, and the 
sun shone brightly in upon a profusion of geraniums and 
European flowers, at once reminding one of home, and re- 
freshing the senses by their perfume and beauty.; the merry 
voices of the children were also a most pleasing novelty. 
Mr. Olrik says the past winter has not been in any way re- 
markable, except for the prevalence of strong winds ; April . 
and the early part of May have been unusually cold. 

2ith. — We did honor to Her Majesty's birth-day. by 
dressing the 'Fox 7 in all her flags, and regaling her crew 
with plum-pudding and grog. The ice having moved off,.. 
8 



114 COALING. Chap. VII. 

we have come into the harbor of Godhavn, as being more 
convenient and safe. The day has been a busy one : we 
have completed our small purchases and closed our letters ; 
I have added another Esquimaux lad to our crew, taking 
with him his rifle, kayak, and sledge. This evening there 
has been a brisk interchange of presents between us and our 
Danish friends. I have been given an eider-down coverlet 
by the Governor, Mr. Andersen ; and, by Mrs. Olrik, some 
delicious preserve of Greenland cranberries, a tin of pre- 
served ptarmigan, and a jar of pickled whale-skin ; my 
table is decked with European flowers, including roses, mig- 
nonnette, and violets. 

With good reason shall we remember Godhavn ; we 
have certainly been treated as especial favorites. 

26th. — Left Godhavn early yesterday morning, and an- 
chored this afternoon in our old position off the Coal Cliffs 
in the Waigat; a party of sealhunters from Atanekerclluk 
came off to us, and their hunting having terminated success- 
fully, tbey will assist us in coaling. From these men I ob- 
tained much information about this part of the coast ; within 
a range of twenty miles upon the Disco shore there are four 
distinct coaling places ; but at this early season two of them 
are deeply covered with snow. There is also very good 
coal at the S. E. end of Hare Island, where it can be easily 
obtained. The ice in this strait broke up as long ago as 
the 3d April ; it has all drifted out to the northward, only 
a few icebergs now remain. 

28th. — Again hastening northward ; the business of coal- 
ing was very speedily and satisfactorily completed, but the 
quality of the coals is very inferior. Upon the green 
slopes our sportsmen found nothing but a few ptarmigan 
and a hare. 

Shortly after running close past the deserted settlement 
of Noursak, we arrived off a small bay, and were startled 
by finding the water had suddenly changed from transparent 



May, 1858. KINDNESS OF THE WHALERS. 115 

blue to a thick muddy color, but there was no change in its 
depth ; we were crossing the stream of " Makkaks Elvin," 
or Clay River, which empties itself into the bay after run- 
ning through a broad and extensive valley, said to abound 
with reindeer ; this river has its origin in lakes and glaciers 
in the interior, and the discoloration of the water is proba- 
bly the chief cause of success in white-whale fishing, which 
is carried on here in the autumn, as those timid animals 
will not permit boats to approach them in clear water. 

This evening we are crossing Omenak's Fiord, and the 
land-wind, which here and all along the coast northwards 
blows from the N". E., has come off to us. 

Blst. — Lying fast to an iceberg off TJpernivik. 

The whalers are all within a dozen miles of us, unable to 
penetrate further north. The season appears forward, and 
the ice much decayed ; but southerly winds prevail, retard- 
ing its disruption and removal. Captain Parker, of the 
'Emma,' tells me he does not expect to make a north pas- 
sage this year, and as his experience extends over a period 
of at least thirty years, I give his reason ; it is simply this, 
— that as during the months of February, March, and April 
northerly winds prevailed to an unusual degree, therefore 
southerly winds may now be expected to continue ; if he 
prove a prophet, it will be to our serious hinderance at this 
critical season. Governor Fliescher says the" winter has 
been mild ; there has been but little wind, and that chiefly 
from the southward. 

Mh June.' — We have received much kindness from our 
friends Captains Parker and J. Simpson, as well as from 
others of the whaling fleet ; the former has generously sup- 
plied us with many things we were rather short of, not only 
in ship's stores, but provisions and coals, and in return I 
have of course furnished him with a receipt for his owners. 
Captain Simpson has most handsomely presented the 'Fox' 
with a sail and yards, which, after some slight alterations, 



110 DANISH SETTLEMENTS. Chap. VII. 

will enable us to add a main topsail to our spread of can- 
vas. For the two days we lay at the iceberg, alongside of 
the 'Emma/ I made furious attacks upon Captain Parker's 
beefsteaks and porter ; we amply availed ourselves of his 
hearty welcome. By the arrival of the fine steam whaler, 
'Tay,' from Scotland, we have received papers up to 11th 
April. 

This morning we slowly steamed away from Upernivik, 
threading our way betwixt islands, and ice, for about 30 
miles, and now await further ice movement before it will be 
possible to proceed. 

These are called the "Woman Islands, so named by the 
celebrated Arctic explorer John Davis, who visited them in 
Queen Elizabeth's reign ; he found here only a few old 
women, their frightened lords and more active juniors hav- 
ing effected their escape. 

Upon one of these islands a stone was picked up some 30 
years ago, bearing a Runic inscription ; it was sent home to 
Copenhagen as a most interesting relic of the early Scandi- 
navian voyagers ; but nothing was on it except the names 
of those men " who cleared this place" (or formed a settle- 
ment), and the date, 1135. In all probability their sojourn 
was extremely short, perhaps only for a single summer. 
The Esquimaux did not make their appearance for nearly 
two centuries later. 

After Egede's settlement at Godhaab in 1T21, the Dan- 
ish trading establishments gradually extended along the 
coast, and Upernivik was one of them ; but it appears to 
have been soon abandoned. During Napoleon's wars all 
the Danish posts were withdrawn, as the British fleet effect- 
ually cut off communication with Europe ; but after peace 
was restored in 1815, the trading posts were again resorted 
to, and a new settlement formed near the ruins of the old 
one at Upernivik ; it enjoys pre-eminence as the most 
northern abode of civilized man. 



June, 1858. THE 'FOX* NEAELY WRECKED. Hj 



CHAPTER VIII, 

Pox' nearly wrecked — Afloat, and push ahead — Arctic hairbreadth es- 
capes — Nearly caught in the pack — Shooting little auks — The Arctie 
Highlanders — Cape York — Crimson snow — Struggling to the westward 
— Eeach the West-land— Off the entrance of Lancaster Sound. 

June 8th. — Yesterday morning we passed close outside 
Buchan Island ; it is small but lofty, its north side is al- 
most precipitous, yet notwithstanding this strong indication 
of deep water, a reef of rocks lies about a mile off it. I 
happened to be aloft with the look-out-man at half-past 
eight o'clock as we were steaming through a narrow lead in, 
the ice, when I saw a rock close ahead ; it was capped with 
ice, therefore was hardly distinguishable from the floating 
masses around ; the engines were stopped and reversed, but 
there was neither time nor room to avoid the reef, which 
now extended on each side of us, and upon which the ship's 
bow stuck fast whilst her stern remained in 36 feet water; 
the tide had just commenced to fall, and all our efforts to 
haul off from the rocks were ineffectual. The floes lay 
within 30 yards of us upon each side. I feared their drift- 
ing down upon the ship and turning her over ; but fortu- 
nately it was perfectly calm, and as the tide fell, points of 
the reef held them fast. The ship continued to fall over to 
Starboard ; at dead low water her inclination was 35°, the 
water covered the starboard gunwale from the mainmast aft, 
and reached almost up to the after hatchway ; at this time 
the slightest shake must have caused her to fall over upon 
her side, when she would have instantly filled and sunk. 



J 1 3 AFLOAT, AND PUSH AHEAD. Chap. VIIL 

The dogs, after repeated ineffectual attempts to lie upon 
the deck, quietly coiled themselves up upon such parts of 
the lee gunwale as remained above water and went to sleep. 

To me the moments seem lengthened out beyond anything 
I could have imagined ; but at length the water began to 
rise, and the ship to resume her upright position. Boats, 
anchors, hawsers, etc., were got on board again with the 
utmost alacrity, and the ship floated off unhurt after having 
been eleven hours upon the reef. We had grounded during 
the clay tide and were floated off by the night tide, which upon 
this coast occasions a much greater rise and fall, — so far we 
were favored, but the poor little ' Fox' had a very narrow 
escape ; as for ourselves, there was not the slightest cause 
for apprehension, three steam whalers being within signal 
distance. 

To-day we are steaming along after the three vessels 
which passed us last evening and disappeared round Cape 
Shackleton during the night. The contrast between our 
prospects yesterday and to-day fills one with delight, — to 
be afloat and advancing unobstructedly once more is indeed 
charming. 

11th. — On the afternoon of the 8th we joined the steamers 
' Tay,' Captain Deuchars ; ' Chase,' Captain Gravill, sen.; 
and ' Diana,' Gravill, jun. After repeated ice-detentions, 
we have reached Duck Island. Captain Deuchars says 
there is every prospect of an early north passage ; we have 
had several conversations about the Pond's Bay natives, 
and their reports of ships, wrecks, and Europeans. There 
appears to be not only great difficulty, but also uncertainty, 
in arriving at their meaning ; to form an idea of the time 
elapsed since an event, or the distance to the spot where it 
occurred, is a still harder task. I look forward to our 
Visit at Pond's Bay with greatly increased interest. 

In August, 1855, when Captain Deuchars was crossing 
through the middle ice, in latitude T0°, he found part of a 



June, 1853.-. ARCTIC HAIRBREADTH ESCAPES. H9 

steamer's topmast imbedded in heavy ice ; he also saw the 
moulded form of a ship's side, and thinks the latter must 
have sunk ; the portion of the topmast visible was sawed 
off and taken to England. It is most probable that the 
vessel was either H, M. S. 'Intrepid' or 'Pioneer,' as two 
months later, and 250 miles further south, the ' Resolute' 
was picked up. About two or three- years ago, Captain 
Deuchars lost his ship ' Princess Charlotte,' in Melville 
Bay. It was a beautiful morning ; they had almost reached 
the North Water, and were anticipating a very successful 
voyage; the steward had just reported breakfast ready, 
when Captain Deuchars, seeing the floes closing together 
ahead of the ship, remained on deck to see her pass safely 
between them, but they closed too quickly; the vessel was 
almost through, when the points of ice caught her sides 
abreast of the mizenmast, and, passing through, held the 
wreck up for a few minutes, barely long enough for the 
crew to escape and save their boats ! Poor Deuchars thus 
suddenly lost his breakfast and his ship ; within ten minutes 
her royal yards disappeared beneath the surface. How 
closely danger besets the Arctic cruiser, yet how insidi- 
ously ; everything looks so bright, so calm, so still, that it 
requires positive experience to convince one that ice only a 
very few inches, perhaps only three or four inches, above 
water, perfectly level, and moving extremely slow, could 
possibly endanger a strong vessel ! The ' Princess Char- 
lotte' was a very-fine, strong ship, and her captain one of 
the most experienced Arctic seamen. He now commands 
the finest whaler in the fleet. 

14//?.. — We have only advanced a few miles to the north- 
ward. The steamer ' Innuit' has joined our small steam 
squadron. Captain Sutter left Scotland only a month ago ; 
he has very kindly and promptly sent us a present of news- 
papers and potatoes. Captain Deuchars has also been 
go«d enough to supply us with some potatoes and porter, 



120 SUPPLY OF PROVISIONS. Chap. VIII. 

perhaps the most serviceable present he could have made 
us after our long subsistence upon salt and preserved 
meats. 

ISth. — Once more alone in Melville Bay. The ' Innuit' 
and ' Chase' steamed much too fast for us, and the last of 
the four vessels, the ' Tay,' parted from us in a thick fog 
yesterday. We have come close along the edge of the 
fixed ice, passing about six miles outside of the Sabine 
Islands, and are advancing as opportunities offer. This 
morning the man who was stationed to watch a nip about 
a quarter of a mile ahead of the ship, came running back, 
pursued by three bears — a mother with her half-grown 
cubs. I suppose they followed him chiefly because he ran 
from them ; and at all events they were very close up before 
he reached the ship. Another bear was seen about the 
same time, but none of them came within shot. Rotchies 
(or little auks) are very abundant. Seals are occasionally 
shot. I ate some boiled seal to-day, and found it good: 
this is the first time I have eaten positive blubber; all 
scruples respecting it henceforth vanish. 

2&th. — The land-ice broke away inshore of the 'Fox' on 
the 19lh or 20th, and we found ourselves drifting south- 
ward amongst extensive fields of ice. Sad experience has 
already shown us how absolutely powerless our small craft 
is under such circumstances. But after many attempts we 
regained the edge of the fast ice this morning, and steamed 
merrily along it towards Bushnan Island. When within a 
few miles a nip brought us to a standstill : here five or six 
icebergs lie encompassed by land-ice, and apparently aground; 
one of them juts out and has caught the point of an im- 
mense field of ice. There is some slight movement in the 
latter, but not enough to let us pass through. 

Twelve or eighteen miles to the south there is a cluster 
of bergs, in all probability aground upon our "10 fathom 
bank" of last September. The ice-field appears to rest 



June, 1858. ARCTIC PERPLEXITIES. 121 

against them, as both to the east and west there is much 
clear water. Exactly at this spot Captain Penny was simi- 
larly detained by a nip in August, 1850. Although pro- 
gress is denied to us at present, yet it is an unspeakable 
relief to have got out of the drifting ice. 

I have passed very many anxious days in Melville Bay, 
but hardly any of them weighed so heavily upon me as 
yesterday. There was the broad, clear land-water within a 
third of a mile of me, clear weather, and a fair breeze 
blowing. The intervening nip worked sufficiently with 
wind and tide to keep one in suspense ; it nearly opened at 
high water, but closed again with the ebb tide. I thought 
of the week already spent in struggling amongst drifting 
floes, and was haunted by visions of everything horrible — 
gales, ice-crushing, etc. Nor was it consoling to reflect 
that all the sailing ships as well as the steamers might have 
actually slipped past us. In fact, I must acknowledge that 
anxiety and weariness had worked me up into a state of 
burning impatience and of bitter chagrin at being so re- 
peatedly baffled in all my efforts by the varying yet con- 
tinual perplexities of our position. The only difference in 
favor of our prospects over those of the past year consisted' 
in our having arrived here two months earlier ; but the im- 
portance of this difference is incalculable. 

The opportunities afforded by the delays to which we 
have been subjected were turned, however, to some account. 
Nearly one thousand rotches were shot; they are excellent 
eating; their average weight is four ounces and a half, but 
when prepared for the table they probably do not yield more 
than three ounces each. A young bear imprudently swam 
up to the ship, and was shot, — his skin fell to the sports- 
man, and carcase to the dogs. Several others have been 
seen : we watched one fellow surprise a seal upon the ice, 
and carry it about in his mouth as a cat does a moose. 

21th. — Lying fast to the ice off the Crimson Cliffs of 



122 THE ARCTIC HIGHLANDERS. Chap. VIII. 

Sir John Ross. Yesterday we succeeded in passing through 
the nip, and by evening reached Cape York. Seeing na- 
tives running out upon the land-ice, the ship was made fast 
for an hour in order to communicate with them. A party 
of eight men came on board : they immediately recognised 
Petersen, for they lived at Etah in Smith's Sound when he 
was there in the American expedition. They asked for 
Dr. Kane, and told us Hans was married and lived in Whale 
Sound. They all said he was most anxious to return to 
Greenland, but had neither sledge-dogs nor kayak ; hunger 
had compelled him to eat the sealskin which covered the 
framework of the latter. Petersen gave them messages for 
Hans from his Greenland friends, and advice that he should 
fix his residence here, where he might see the whalers and 
perhaps be taken back to Greenland. The natives did not 
seem to be badly off for anything except dogs, some dis- 
temper having carried off most of these indispensable 
animals. I was therefore unable to procure any from them. 
These people spent the winter here ; they seemed healthy, 
well-clad, and happy little fellows. One of them is brother- 
in-law to Erasmus York, who voluntarily came to England 
in the 'Assistance' in 1851. This man is an angekok, or 
magician ; he has a still flatter face than the rest of his 
countrymen, but appears more thoughtful and intelligent. 

Petersen pointed out to me a stout old fellow, with a 
tolerable sprinkling of beard and moustache. This worthy 
perpetrated the only murder which has taken place for seve- 
ral years in the tribe : he disliked his victim and stood in 
need of his dogs, therefore he killed the owner and appro- 
priated his property ! Such motives and passions usually 
govern the " unsophisticated children of nature ;" yet, as 
savages, the Esquimaux -may be considered exceedingly 
harmless. 

Of late years these Arctic Highlanders have become 
alarmed by the rapid diminution of their numbers through 



July, 1858. DAMAGE FROM ICE. 123 

famine and disease, and have been less violent towards each 
other in their feuds and quarrels. 

The appearance of these men as they danced and rolled 
about in frantic delight at our approach, was wild and 
strange, and their costume uniform and picturesque. Their 
long, coarse, black hair hung loosely over the seal-skin 
frock which in its turn overlapped their loose shaggy bear- 
skin breeches, and these again came down over the tops of 
their seal-skin boots. Most of them carried a spear formed 
out of the horn of a narwhal. 

Having distributed presents of knives and needles, and 
explained to them that we did so because they had behaved 
well to the white people, (as we learned from Dr. Kane's 
narrative of their treatment of him and his crew), we pur- 
sued our voyage, not doubting but that we should soon reach 
the North Water, an extensive sea through which we could 
sail uninterruptedly to Pond's Bay. 

During the night we advanced through loose ice ; but 
fog and a rising S. E. gale delayed us, and to-day the pack 
has pressed 2 in against the land, so that our wings are most 
unexpectedly clipped. A walrus was shot through the head 
by a Minie bullet ; none other will penetrate such a massive 
skull : unfortunately for my collection of specimens, and 
for the dogs, the animal sank. 

2d July. — For five days we have been almost beset 
amongst loose ice and grounded bergs ; the winds were 
generally from the S. E. and accompanied by fog. To 
avoid being squeezed we had constantly to shift our posi- 
tion ; once we were caught and rather severely nipped ; the 
ship was heeled over about ten degrees and lifted a couple 
of feet : the ice was three feet thick, but broke readily 
under her weight. Unfortunately there was not time to 
unship the rudder, so it suffered very severely. Upon a 
previous occasion the screw-shaft was bent and a portion 
of the screw broken off. 



124 ROTCHIES AND GULLS. Chap. VIIL 

Landed to obtain a good view of the sea in the offing ; 
from the hills we could see nothing but pack to seaward. 
There was no land-ice ; we stepped out of the boat upon a 
narrow icefoot which fringed the coast ; immediately above 
it we trod over a velvet sward of soft bright green moss ; 
the turf beneath was of considerable depth. Here and 
there under this noble range of cliffs, which are composed 
of primary rocks, there exists much vegetation for so high a 
latitude. From the fact of thick layers of turf descending 
quite down to the sea, it is evident that the land has been 
gradually sinking. Steep slopes of rocky debris, which 
screen the bases of the most precipitous cliffs, form secure 
nurseries for the little auk ; these localities were literally 
alive with them ; they popped in and out of every crevice, 
or sat in groups of dozens upon every large rock. I have 
nowhere seen such countless myriads of birds. The rotchie, 
or little auk, lays its single egg upon the bare rock, far 
within a ci'evice beyond the reach of fox, owl, or burgo- 
master gull. We shot a couple of hundred during our 
short stay on shore, and, by removing the stones, gathered 
several dozen of their eggs. 

The huge predatory gulls, long ago named "Burgomas- 
ters" by Dutch seamen (because they lord it over their 
neighbors, and appropriate everything good to themselves), 
have established themselves in the cliffs, where their nests 
are generally inaccessible : we were a month too late for 
their eggs ; the young birds were as large as spring chick- 
ens. Of course we obtained specimens of the red snow, 
but had to seek rather diligently for it ; its color was a dirty 
red, very like the stain of port wine : very few patches of 
it were found. 

Last night a westerly wind blew freshly and dispersed the 
ice outside of us, so much so that this evening we have got 
out into almost clear water. Farewell Greenland ! — hurrah 
for the west ! 



July, 1858. FREE FROM THE ICE. 125 

5th. — Aftei* getting free from the ice off the Crimson 
Cliffs, we soon lost sight of the last fragment, and steered 
for Pond's Bay. And now we all set to work in zealous 
haste to write our last letters for England, by the whalers, 
which we hoped soon to meet there. 

After running 60 miles the ice reappeared, and we sailed 
through a vast deal of it, but it became more closely packed, 
and a thick fog detained us for a day. 

"When the weather became clear, the main pack was seen 
to the W., S., and S. E.; in the hope of rounding its northern 
extreme we ran along it to the N. W. To-day it has led us 
to the N. and N". E., so that this evening Wolstenholme 
Sound is in sight. To the ~N. the pack appears impenetra- 
ble, and there is a strong ice-blink over it. All the ice we 
have lately sailed through is loose, and much decayed ; it 
seems but recently to have broken away from the land, is 
not water-washed, neither has it been exposed to a swell, 
the fractured edges remaining sharp. 

6th. — Midnight. Last evening I persevered to the N. 
untiF every hope of progress in that direction vanished. 
To the W. the pack appeared tolerably loose ; the wind was 
fresh at E. S. E., so I determined once more to push into 
it, and endeavor to battle our way through; I hoped it 
would prove to be merely a belt of 30 or 40 miles in width. 
We found the ice to lie for the most part in streams at 
right angles to the wind, and therefore much more open 
than it had appeared : there was seldom any difficulty in 
winding through it from one water-space to another. The 
wind greatly increased, bringing much rain, but fortunately 
no fog ; — the dread of this hung over me like a night- 
mare, — our progress depended upon the vigilance of the 
look-out kept in the crow's-nest. By noon we had made 
good 60 miles. Throughout the day the wind has gradu- 
ally moderated ; the rain gave place to snow, which in its 
turn was succeeded by mist. The evening was fine eventu- 



126 ICE CLOSING AGAIN. . Chap. 7III. 

ally and clear ; but still we find, the ice is all around. Just 
before midnight the termination of our lead was discovered, 
whilst the ice through which we had passed was closing to- 
gether, and a dense fog came rolling down. Under these 
circumstances the ship was made fast as near to the nip as 
safety permitted, to await some favorable change. 

10th. — All the 7th we remained in our small basin, there 
being no outlet from it, and but little water anywhere visible. 
To pass away the dull hours and get rid of unwelcome re- 
flections upon the similarity of our present position and 
that in August last, I commenced an attack upon all the 
feathered denizens of the pack — they seemed so provokingly 
contented with it — but they soon became wary, and deserted 
our vicinity, so I shot only a dozen fulmar petrels, three 
ivory gulls, two looms,* and a Leslris parasiticus ; some 
of them were useful as specimens, and such as were not 
destined for our table were given to the dogs. Although 
Cobourg Island was 45 miles distant from us, its lofty 
rounded outlines were very distinct, and much covered with 
snow. On the 8th we squeezed through nips for 4 or 5 
miles, and on the 9th, reaching a large space of water, 
steamed towards Cobourg Island until again stopped by 
the pack at an early hour this morning, when within 5 or 6 
leagues of it. 

This evening we are endeavoring to steam in toward the 
West-land, and fancy we can trace with the crow's-nest tel- 
escope a practicable route through the intervening ice- 
mazes to a faint streak of water along the shore. This sort 
of navigation is not only anxious, but wearying. To me it 
seems as if several months instead of only eight days has 
elapsed since we left Cape York. We are constantly 
wondering what our whaling friends are about, and where 
they are ? 

* These birds are called willocks at home; they are the "Una Brun- 
nichii" of naturalists. 



July, 1858. VISIT OF NATIVES. 127 

lith. — The faint streak of water seen on the night of the 
10th proved to be an extensive sheet to leeward of Cobourg 
Island. We reached it next morning. Jones' Sound ap- 
peared open, and a slight swell reached us from it, but all 
along the shore there was close pack. Although but little 
water was visible to the southward, we persevered in that 
direction, and, as the ice was rapidly moving off shore 
under the combined influence of wind and tide, we were 
only occasionally detained. 

Two hundred and forty-two years ago — to a day, I be- 
lieve — William Baffin sailed without hindrance along this 
coast and discovered Lancaster Sound. What a very dif- 
ferent season he must have experienced ! 

Passing near Cape Horsburgh we approached De Kos 
Islet at midnight. The air being very calm, and still, the 
shouting of some natives was heard, although we could 
scarcely distinguish them upon the land-ice. The ship was 
made fast, and the shouting party, consisting of three men, 
three women, and two children, eagerly came on board. 
Only four individuals remained on shore. 

The old chief Kal-lek is remarkable amongst Esquimaux 
for having a bald head. He inquired by name for his friend 
Captain Ingleneld. These three families have spent the last 
two years upon this coast, between Cape Horsburgh and 
Croker Bay. Their knowledge does not extend further in 
either direction. They are natives of more southern lands, 
and crossed the ice in Lancaster Sound with dog-sledges. 
Since the visit of the 'Phoenix' in '54 they have seen no 
ships, nor have any wrecks drifted upon their shores. They 
seemed very. fat and healthy, but complained that all the 
reindeer had gone away, and asked if we could tell where 
they went to ? Our presents of wood, knives, and needles 
were eagerly received. They assured us that Lancaster 
Sound was still frozen over, and that all the sea was covered 
with pack. After half an hour's delay we steamed onward, 



128 OFF LANCASTER SOUND. Chap. VIII. 

and on reaching a larger space of water our hopes (some- 
what depressed by the native intelligence) began to revive. 
But we soon found that our clear water terminated near 
Cape Warrender. Lancaster Sound, although not frozen 
over, was crammed full of floes and icebergs. The wind 
increased to a strong gale from the east, and pressed in 
more ice. At length the ship was with difficulty made fast 
to a strip of land-ice a few miles westward of Point Osborn. 
Gradually the gale subsided, but not until the pack was 
close in against the land. The tides kept sweeping it to 
and fro to our great discomfort. The land is composed of 
gneiss, and the gravelly shore is low. A few ducks only 
have been shot, and traces of reindeer and hares seen. Our 
Melville Bay friends, the rotchies, are very rare visitors upon 
' this side of Baffin's Bay. 

Part of a ship's timber has been found upon the beach ; 
it measures t inches by 8 inches, is of American oak, and, 
although sound, has long been exposed to the weather. 



July, 1858. OFF CAPE WARRENDER. 129 



CHAPTER IX. 

Off Cape Warrender — Siglit the whalers again — Enter Pond'a Bay — Com- 
municate with Esquimaux — Ascend Pond's Inlet — Esquimaux informa- 
tion — Arctic summer abode — An Arctic village — No intelligence of 
Franklin's ships — Arctic trading — Geographical information of natives 
— Information of Rae's visit — Improvidence of Esquimaux — Travels 
of Esquimaux. 

IQth July. — To borrow a whaling phrase, we are "dodg- 
ing about in a hole of water" off Cape Warrender. I 
recognize the little bay just to the west of the cape where 
Parry landed in September, 1824. The "immense mass of 
snow and ice containing strata of muddy-looking soil" is 
there still, and, I should think, had considerably increased. 
Here his party shot three reindeer out of a small herd. 
We have narrowly scanned the steep hill-sides with our; 
glasses, but without discovering any such inducement to 
land. 

No cairns are visible upon Cape Warrender ; the natives 
have probably removed them. Dense pack prevents us from 
approaching Port Dundas or crossing to the southern shore. 
We all find these vexatious delays are by no means condu- 
cive to sleep. The mind is busy with a sort of magic-lantern 
representation of the past, the present, and the future, and 
resists for weary hours the necessary repose. 

Vlth. — Last night's calm has allowed the pack to expand 
so much, that to-day we have steamed through it until 
within three miles of the noble cliffs of Cape Hay ; and 
now we are drifting eastward with the ice precisely as did 
the 'Enterprise' and 'Investigator,' in- September, '49. 
9 



130 THE WHALERS AGAIN. Chap. IX. 

Upon that occasion we were set free off Pond's Bay. There 
is a very extensive loomery at Cape Hay ; we regret the 
circumstances which prevent our levying a tax upon it. 
Here, if anywhere, I expected to find a clear sea, but east 
winds have prevailed for twenty days out of the last twenty- 
five, and this accounts for the present state of the sea; the 
next succession of west winds will probably effect a pro- 
digious clearance of ice. 

21st. — The 'Tay' was seen to-day Id loose ice, and much 
further off the land. She gradually steamed through it to 
the southward, and by night was almost out of sight. Her 
appearance surprised us, as we supposed she must have 
reached Pond's Bay long ago. Ten hours' struggling with 
steam and sails at the most favorable intervals has only ad- 
vanced us five miles. The weather is remarkably warm, 
bright, and pleasant. A very large bear came within 150 
yards, and was shot by Petersen, the Minie bullet passing 
through his body. This beast measured 8 ft. 3 in. in length ; 
his fat carcase was hoisted on board with great satisfaction, 
as our dogs' food was nearly expended. 

24th. — Last night the ice became slack enough to afford 
some prospect of release, so we charged the nips vigorous- 
ly, and steamed away through devious openings toward Cape 
Fanshawe. For several hours but little progress was made, 
but this morning the ice became more open ; clear water 
was seen ahead, and reached by noon. Although it is calm 
I prefer waiting for a breeze To expending more coals. We 
are only ten miles from Possession Bay. The air is so very 
clear that the land appears quite close to ns. All that is not 
mountainous is well cleared of snow. There is immense 
refraction. Only a single iceberg in sight. The sea-water 
is light green, as remarked by Parry in 1819. , i 

26th. — A vessel was seen yesterday morning ; the day 
continuing calm, we steamed through some loose ice, and 
joined her off Cape Walter Bathurst in the evening. It 



July, 1858. ENTER POND'S BAY. 131 

proved to be the 'Diana ; ' she parted from us on tlie 16th 
of June in Melville Bay, has everywhere been obstructed by 
the pack, as We have been, and only reached Cape Warren- 
der three days before us. From thence to Possession Bay 
she met with no obstruction. The subsequent east winds 
brought in all the ice which has so much retarded us. 

The 'Diana' has already captured twelve whales. Taking 
the hint from Capt. Gravill, we have made fast to a loose 
§oe, and are drifting very nearly a mile an hour to the south- 
ward along the edge of a very formidable land-ice, which j 
seven or eight miles broad. All to seaward of us is packe 
ice. The old whaling seamen of the ' Diana' are astonisheu 
at the unusual and unaccountable abundance of ice which 
everywhere fills up Baffin's Bay. All the 'Diana's' steam- 
ing coals, her spare spars, wood, and even a boat, have been 
burnt in the protracted struggle through the middle ice. 

21th. — After putting our letter-bag on board the ' Diana ' 
this morning, we steamed on for Pond's Bay, and at noon 
made fast near Button Point to the land-ice, which still ex- 
tends across it. 

For four hours Petersen and I have been bargaining with 
an old woman and a boy, not for the sake of their seal- 
skins, but in order to keep them in good humor whilst we 
extracted information from them. ' They said they knew 
nothing of ships or white people ever having been within 
this inlet, nor of any wrecked ships. They knew of the 
depot of provisions left at Navy Board Inlet by the 'North 
Star,' but had none of them. The woman has traced on 
paper the shores of the inlet as far as her knowledge ex- 
tends, and has giveume the name of every point. She says 
the ice will break up with the first fresh wind. These two 
individuals are alone here. They remained on purpose to 
barter with the whalers, and cannot now rejoin their friends, 
who are only 25 miles up the inlet, because the ice is unsafe 
to travel over, and the land precipitous and impracticable. 



^32 EXAMINE NATIVE CACHES. Chap. IX. 

This afternoon the 'Tay' stood in toward us, and Capt. 
Deuchars kindly sent his boat on board with an offer to take 
charge of our letters. The 'Tay' reached this coast only a 
few days ago, having met with the same difficulties which we 
experienced. The 'Innuit' was last seen nearly a month 
ago beset off Jones' Sound. The remaining steamer, the 
' Chase,' has not been seen or heard of. 

29th. — The old woman's denial of all knowledge of the 
wrecks or cast-away men was very unsatisfactory. I deter- 
mined to visit her countrymen at their summer village of 
Kaparoktolik, which she described as being only a short 
day's journey up the inlet. 

Petersen and one man accompanied me. We started 
yesterday morning with a sledge and a Halkett boat. 
Although the ice over which we purposed traveling broke 
away from the land soon after setting out, yet we managed 
to get half way to the village before encamping. This 
morning we learnt the truth of the old woman's account. 
A range of precipitous cliffs rising from the sea cut us off 
by land from Kaparoktolik, so we were obliged to return to 
the ship. . Our walk afforded the opportunity of examining 
some native encampment and caches. We found innumera- 
ble scraps of seal-skins, bird-skins, walrus and other bones, 
whalebone, blubber, and a small sledge. The latter was 
very old, and composed of pieces of wood and of large 
bones ingeniously secured together with strips of whalebone. 
Five preserved-meat tins were found ; some of them retain- 
ing their original coating of red paint. Doubtless these 
were part of the spoils from Navy Board Inlet depot. The 
total absence of fresh wood or iron was strongly in favor of 
the old woman's veracity. Since yesterday, ice, about 16 
miles in extent, has broken up in the inlet, and is drifting 
out into Baffin's Bay. 

During my absence our shooting parties have twice 
visited a loomery upon Cape Graham Moore, and each 



Jolt, 1858. ASCEND POND'S INLET. X33 

time have brought on board 300 looms. Very few birdo 
and no other animals were seen during our walk over the 
rich mossy slopes to-day. I saw a pair of Canadian brown 
cranes, the first of the species I have ever seen so far north, 
though Sir Robert M'Clure found them, I know, on Bank's 
Land. 

The lands enjoying a southern aspect, even to the sum- 
mits of hills *T00 or 800 feet in height, were tinged with 
green ; but these hills were protected by a still loftier range 
to the north. Upon many well-sheltered slopes we found 
much rich grass. All the little plants were in full flower ; 
some of them familiar to us at home, such as the buttercup, 
sorrel, and dandelion. I have never found the latter to the 
north of 69° before. 

The old woman is much less excited to-day ; she says 
there was a wreck upon the coast when she was a little 
girl ; it lies a day and a half's journey, about 45 miles, to 
the north ; and came there without masts and very much 
crushed ; the little which now remains is almost buried in 
the sand. A piece of this wreck was found near her abode, 
• — she has neither hut nor tent, but a sort of lair constructed 
of a few stones and a seal-skin spread over them, so that 
she can crawl underneath. This fragment is part of a floor 
timber, English oak, 1^ inches thick ; it has been brought 
on board. 

30^/7. — A gale of wind and deluge of rain has detained 
the ship until this evening ; we are now steaming up the 
inlet, having the old lady and the boy on board as our 
pilots ; they are delighted at the prospect of rejoining their 
friends, from whom they were effectually cut off until the 
return of winter should freeze a safe pathway for them ; 
they had, however, abundance of looms stored up en cache 
for their subsistence. She has drawn me another chart, 
much more neatly than the former, but so like it as to prove 
that her geographical knowledge, and not her powers of in- 



134 ESQUIMAUX INFORMATION. Chap. IX. 

vention, have been taxed. She is a widow ; her daughter ig 
married, and lives at a place called Igloolik, which is six or 
seven days' jouruey from here, — three days up the inlet, 
then about three days overland to the southward, and then 
a day over the ice. 

Thinking it not quite impossible that this Igloolik might 
be the place where Parry wintered in 1822-3, I told Peter- 
sen to ask whether ships had ever been there ? She 
answered, "Yes, a ship stopped there all one winter; but 
it is a long time ago." All she could distinctly recollect 
having been told about it was, that one of the crew died, 
and was bui'ied there, and his name was Al-lah or El- 
leh. On referring to Parry's ' Narrative,' I found that the 
ice-mate, Mr. Elder, died at Igloolik! This is a very re- 
markable confirmation of the locality, — for there are several 
places called Igloolik. She also told us it was an island, 
and near a strait between two seas. The Esquimaux 
take considerable pains to learn, and remember names ; this 
woman knows the names of several of the whaling captains, 
and the old chief at De Bos Islet remembered Captain In- 
glefield's name, and tried hard to pronounce mine. 

She now told us of another wreck upon the coast, but 
many days' journey to the south of Pond's Bay ; it came 
there before her first child was born. Her age is not less 
than forty-five. 

August Uh. — Our Esquimaux friends have departed from 
us with every demonstration of friendship, to return to their 
village. We have had free communication with them for 
four days — not only through Mr. Petersen, but also through 
our two Greenlanders ; the result is, that they have no 
knowledge whatever of either of the missing or the aban- 
doned searching ships. Neither wrecked people nor wrecked 
ships have reached their shores. They seemed to be much 
in want of wood ; most of what they have consists of staves 
of casks, probably from the Navy Board Inlet depot. 



Aug. 185S. VISIT TO. A NATIVE VILLAGE. 135 

In their bartering with us, saws were most eagerly sought 
for in exchange for narwhal's horns ; they are used by them 
in cutting up the long strips of the bones of whales with 
which they shoe the runners of their sledges, also the ivory 
and bone used to protect the more exposed parts of their 
kayaks and the edges of their paddles from the ice. 

Files were also in great demand, and I found were re- 
quired to convert pieces of iron-hoop into arrow and spear 
heads. If any suspicion existed of their having a secret 
supply of wood, such as a wreck or even a boat would 
afford, it was removed by their refusing to barter the most 
trifling things for axes or hatchets. 

But I must relate the events of the last few days as 
they occurred. When 17 miles within the inlet we reached 
the unbroken ice and made the ship fast. Here the strait 
-^originally named Pond's Bay, and more recently Eclipse 
Sound — appears to be most contracted, its width not ex- 
ceeding 1 or 8 miles. Both its shores are very bold and 
lofty, often forming noble precipices. The prevailing rock 
is grey gneiss, generally dipping at an angle of 35° to the 
west. 

Early on the 1st of August I set out for the native vil- 
lage with Hobson, Petersen, two men, and the two natives 
from Button Point. Eight miles of wet and weary ice- 
travelling, which occupied as many hours, terminated our 
journey; the surface of the ice was everywhere deeply 
channelled and abundantly flooded by the summer's thaw; 
we were almost constantly launching our small boat over 
the slippery ridges which separated pools or channellirigs 
through which it was generally necessary to wade. 

After toiling round the base of a precipice, we came ra- 
ther suddenly in view of a small semicircular bay; the cliffs 
on either side were 800 or 900 feet high, remarkably for- 
bidding and desolate ; the mouth of a valley or wide moun- 
tain gorge opens out into its head. Here, in the depth of 



136 AN ARCTIC VILLAGE. Chap. IX. 

the bay, upon a low flat strip of land, stood seven tents, — 
the summer village of Kaparok-to-lik. I never saw a lo- 
cality more characteristic of the Esquimaux than that which 
they have here selected for their abode ; it is widely pictur- 
esque in the true Arctic application of the terra. 

Although August had arrived, and the summer had been 
a warm one, the bay was still frozen over ; and if there was 
an ice-coverecl sea in front, there was also abundance of 
ice-covered land in the rear — a glacier occupied the whole 
valley behind and to within 300 yards of the chosen spot ! 

The glacier's height appeared to be from 150 to 200 
feet ; its sea-face extending across the valley, — a probable 
width of 300 or 400 yards, — was quite perpendicular, and 
fully 100 feet high. All last winter's snow had thawed 
away from off it and exposed a surface of mud and stones, 
fissured by innumerable small rivulets, which threw them- 
selves over the glacier cliffs in pretty cascades, or shot far 
out in strong jets from their deeply serried channels in its 
face; whilst other streamlets near the base burst out 
through subglacial tunnels of their own forming. 

What a strange people to confine themselves to such a 
mere strip of beach ! Upon each side they have towering 
rocky hills rising so abruptly from the sea, that to pass 
along their bases or ascend over their summits, is equally 
impossible ; whilst a threatening glacier imraediataly be- 
hind, bears onward a sufficient amount of rock and earth 
from the mountains whence it issues, to convince even the 
unreflecting savage of its progressive motion. 

The land is devoid of game, although lemmings and er- 
mines are tolerably numerous ; it only supplies the moss 
which the natives burn with blubber in their lamps, and the 
dry grass which they put in their boots ; even the soft 
stone, lapis ollaris, out of which their lamps and cooking 
vessels are made and the iron pyrites with which they strike 
fire, are obtained by barter from the people inhabiting the 



Aug. 1858. NO INTELLIGENCE OP FRANKLIN. 13^ 

land to the West of Navy Board Inlet. But the sea com- 
pensates for every deficiency. The assembled population 
amounted to only 25 souls : 9 men, the rest women and 
children. 

All of them evinced extreme delight at seeing us; as 
we approached the huts the women and children held up 
their arms in the air and shouted " Pilletay " (give me), 
incessantly ; the men were more quiet and dignified, yet lost 
no opportunity, either when we declined to barter, or when 
they had performed any little service, to repeat "Pilletay" 
in a beseeching tone of voice. 

We walked everywhere about the tents and entered some 
of them, carefully examining every chip or piece of metal ; 
our visit was quite unexpected. They had only two 
sledges ; both were made of 2^ inch oak-planks, devoid of 
bolt-holes or treenails, and having but very few nail-holes. 
These sledges had evidently been constructed for several 
years, the parts not exposed to friction were covered with 
green fungus : one of them measured 14 feet long, the 
other about 9 feet; we were told the wood came from a 
wreck to the southward of Pond's Bay. Most of the 
sledge crossbars were ordinary staves of casks. Amongst 
the poles and large bones which supported the tents 
we noticed a painted fir oar. Some pieces of iron-hoop 
and a few preserved-meat tins — one of which was 
stamped "Golclner," — completed their stock of European 
^les. 

"itersen questioned all the men separately as to their 
ledge of ships or wrecks ; but their accounts only 
served to confirm the old woman's story. JSTone of them 
had ever heard of ships or wrecks any where to the west- 
ward. Both individually and collectively we got them to 
draw charts of the various coasts known to them, and to 
mark upon them the positions of the wrecks. The two 
chiefs, Noo-luk and A-wah-lah, soon made themselves 



138 INTERVIEW WITH NATIVES. Chap. IX. 

known to me, and, when we desired to go to sleep, sent 
away the people who were eagerly pressing round our tent. 
All these natives were better-looking, cleaner, and more 
robust than I expected to find them. 

A-wah-lah has been to Igloolik ; one of his wives, for 
each chief has two, has a brother living there. I spread a 
large roll of paper upon a rock, and got him to draw the 
route overland, and also round by the coast to it ; this 
novel proceeding attracted the whole population about us ; 
A-wah-lah constantly referred to others when his memory 
failed him ; at length it was completed to the satisfaction 
of all parties. When I gave him the knife I had promised 
as his reward, and added another for his wives, he sprang 
up on the rock, flourished the knives in his hands, shouted, 
and danced with extravagant demonstrations of joy. He is 
a very fine specimen of his race, powerful, impulsive, full of 
energy and animal spirits, and moreover an admirable mimic. 
The men" were all about the same height, 5 feet 5 inches; 
they eagerly answered our questions, and imparted to us all 
the geographical knowledge, although at first they hesitated 
when we asked them about Navy Board Inlet, in conse- 
quence of the depot placed there having been plundered; 
but we soon found that they were easily tired under cross- 
examination, and often said they knew no more; it was 
necessary to humor them. 

According to their account the depot was discovered and 
robbed by people living further west. This is probably 
true, as so few relics were to be seen here, which would not 
be the case if such active fellows as A-wah-lah and Noo- 
luk had received the first intimation of its proximity. 
These people of Kaparoktolik are the only inhabitants of 
the land lying eastward of Navy Board Inlet, and live en- 
tirely upon its southern shore. In a similar manner, it is 
only the southern coast of the land to the west of Navy 
Board Inlet that is inhabited. After distributing presents 



Aug. 1858. GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION. 139 

to all the women and children, and making a few trifling pur- 
chases from the men, we returned next day to the ship. 

During my absence more ice had broken away, involving 
the ship and almost forcing her on shore. It required every 
exertion to save her. For two hours she continued in 
imminent danger, and was only saved by the warping and 
ice-blasting, by which at last she got clear of the drifting 
masses, four minutes only before these were crushed up 
against the rocks ! 

Four Esquimaux came off to the ship in their kayaks, 
bringing whalebone, narwhals' horns, etc., to barter. Next 
to handsaws and files, they attached the greatest value to 
knives and large needles. These men remained on board 
for nearly two days, and drew several charts for us. Noo- 
luk explained that seven or eight days' journey to the 
southward there are two wrecks a short day's journey apart. 
The southern is in an inlet or strait which contains several 
islands, but here his knowledge of the coast terminates. 
The man A-ra-neet said he visited these wrecks five winters 
ago. All of them agreed that it is a very long time since 
the wrecks arrived upon the coast ; and Noo-luk, who ap- 
pears to be about forty-five years of age, showed us how 
tall he was at that time. 

In the ■ Narrative of Parry's Second Voyage,' at p. 437, 
mention is made of the arrival at Igloolik of a sledge con- 
structed of ship-timber and staves of casks ; also of two 
ships that had been driven on shore, and the crews of which 
went away in boats. In August, 1821, nearly two years 
previous to the arrival of this report through the Esqui- 
maux to Igloolik, the whalers - Dexterity' and ' Aurora' 
were wrecked upon the west coast of Davis' Strait, in lat. 
12°, TO or 80 miles southward of Pond's Bay. The old 
man. Ow-wang-noot, drew the coast-line northward from 
Cape Graham Moore to Navy Board Inlet, and pointed out 
the position of the northern wreck a few miles east of Cape 



140 INFORMATION OF RAE'S VISIT. Chap. XI. 

Hay. Had it been conspicuous we must have seen it when 
we slowly drifted along that coast. 

These people usually winter in snow-huts at Green Point, 
a mile or two within the northern entrance of Pond's Bay. 
They hunt the seal and narwhal, but when the sea becomes 
too open they retire to Kaparoktolik ; and when the re- 
maining ice breaks up — usually about the middle of 
August — a further migration takes place across the inlet to 
the S. W., where reindeer abound, and large salmon are 
numerous in the rivers. Every winter they communicate 
with the Igloolik people. Two winters ago (1856— T) some 
people who lived far beyond Igloolik, in a country called 
A-ka-nee (probably the Ak-koo-lee of Parry), brought 
from there the information of white people having come in 
two boats, and passed a winter in snow-huts at a place 
called by the following names : — A-mee-lee-oke, A-wee-lik, 
Net-tee-lik. 

Our friends pointed to our whale-boats and said the boats 
of the white people were like it, but larger. These whites 
had tents inside their snow-huts; they killed and eat rein- 
deer and narwhal, and smoked pipes ; they bought dresses 
from the natives; none died; in summer they all went away, 
taking with them two natives, a father and his son. We 
could not ascertain the name of the white chief, nor the 
interval of time since they wintered amongst the Esqui- 
maux, as our friends could not recollect these parti- 
culars.* 

The name of the locality, A-wee-lik (spelt as written 
down at the moment), may be considered identical with 
u Ay-wee-lik," the name of the land about Repulse Bay in 
the chart of the Esquimaux woman, Iligliuk (Parry's ' Sec- 
ond Voyage,' p. 197). 

* Dr. Rae wintered at Repulse Bay in stone huts in 1846-7. Again 
wintered there in snow huts in 1853-4. 



Ava. 1858. BARTER WITH NATIVES. 141 

We were of course greatly surprised to find that Dr. 
Rae's visit to Repulse Bay was known to this distant tribe ; 
and also disappointed to find they had heard nothing of 
Franklin's Back-River parties through the same channel of 
communication. They were anxiously and repeated ques- 
tioned, but evidently had not heard of any other white 
people to the westward, nor of their having perished 
there. 

Ow-wang-noot lived at Igloolik in his early days, and 
made a chart of the lands adjacent, but said he was so 
young at the time that "it seemed like a dream to him." 
He was acquainted with Ee-noo-loo-apik, the Esquimaux 
who once accompanied Captain Penny to Aberdeen, and 
told us he had died, lately I think, at a place to the south- 
ward called Kri-merk-su-malek, but that his sister still lives 
at Igloolik. 

Although they told us the Iglooklik people were worse 
off for wood than they were themselves, yet it was evident 
that here also, it is very scarce. We could not spare them 
light poles or oars such as they were most desirous to obtain 
for harpoon and lance staves and tent-poles; and they would 
willingly have bartered their kyaks to us for rifles (having 
already obtained some from the whaling-ships), but that 
they had no other way of getting back to their homes, nor 
wood to make the light framework of others. 

They collect whalebone and narwhal's horns in sufficient 
quantity to carry on a small barter with the whalers. A- 
wah-lah showed us about thirty horns in his tent, and said 
he had many more at other stations. A few years ago, 
when first this bartering sprang up, an Esquimaux took 
Buch a fancy to a fiddle that he offered a large quantity of 
whalebone in exchange for it. The bargain was soon made, 
and subsequently this whalebone was sold for upwards of a 
hundred pounds ! Each successive year, when the same 
ship returns to Pond's Bay, this native comes on board to 



142 TEMPTATIONS TO BARTER. Chap. IX. 

visit his friends, and goes on shore with many presents in 
remembrance of the memorable transaction. It is mnch 
better for him thus to receive annual gifts than to have re- 
ceived a large quantity at first, as the improvidence of these 
men surpasses belief. 

Of the "rod of iron about four feet long, supposed to 
have been at one time galvanized," which was brought home 
in 1856 by Captain Patterson, and forwarded to the Ad- 
miralty, I could obtain no information. The natives were 
shown galvanized iron, and said they had never seen any 
before ; if their countrymen had any, it must have come 
from the whalers ; none like it was found in the wrecks. 
Rod-iron is very valuable to the Esquimaux for spears and 
lances, and narwhals' horns very tempting to the seamen, 
not only as valuable curiosities, but the ivory, is worth half 
a crown a pound ; and I have but little doubt that mauy of 
the things said to have been stolen by the natives were 
fraudulently bartered away by the sailors. That there was 
no galvanized iron on board any of the Government search- 
ing ships, nor in the missing expedition which sailed from 
England as far back as 1845, I am almost certain. But is 
it certain that this rod was galvanized ? The natives gave 
Captain Patterson to understand that they got it from the 
wreck to the north. 

In July, 1854, Captain Deu chars was at Pond's Bay, and 
many natives visited his ship, coming over the ice on twelve 
or fourteen sledges made of ship's plauking. Now at this 
time Sir Edward Belcher's ships were still frozen up in 
Barrow Strait. My own impression is that the natives 
whom Captain Deuchars communicated with in 1854 were 
visitors at Pond's Bay — certainly from the southward — and 
probably attracted by the barter recently grown up at that 
whaling rendezvous. Having discovered the use of the 
saws obtained by barter from our whalers, they had success- 
fully applied them to the stout planking of the old wrecks, 



Acs. 1858. TRAVELS OF ESQUIMAUX. ]43 

which they could not have stripped off with any tools pre- 
viously in their possession. 

That the various tribes, or rather groups of families, occa- 
sionally visit each other, sometimes for change of hunting- 
grounds, but more frequently for barter, is well known. 
Captain Parker told me that a native, whom he had met 
one summer at Durbin Island, came on board his ship at 
Pond's Bay the following year. The distance between the 
two places, as travelled by this man in a single winter, is 
scarcely short of 500 miles ; and the information given us 
of Bae's wintering at Repulse Bay, information which 
must have travelled here in two winters, shows that these 
natives communicate at still greater distances. 

Did other wrecks exist nearer at hand, our Pond's Bay 
friends would be much better supplied with wood. If the 
Esquimaux knew of any within 300, 400, or even 500 
miles, the Pond's Bay natives would at least have heard of 
them, and could have had no reason for concealing it from 
us. I only regret that we had not the good fortune to see 
more than a few natives, and but two sledges of ship's 
planking ; otherwise our own information might have been 
more copious, and the origin of the fresh supply of planking 
decisively ascertained. 



144 LEAVE POND'S BAT. Chap X. 



CHAPTER X. 

Leave Pond's Bay — A gale in Lancaster Sound — The Beechey Island 
Depot — An Arctic Monument — Reflections at Beechey Island — Pro- 
ceed up Barrow's Strait — Peel Sound — Port Leopold — Prince Regent's 
Inlet — Bellot Strait — Flood-tide from the "West — Unsuccessful Efforts — 
Fox's Hole — No water to the West — Precautionary Measures — Fourth 
attempt to pass through. 

6th Aug. — Continued calms have delayed us. This 
evening we steamed from Pond's Bay northward, although 
our coals have been sadly reduced by the almost constant 
necessity for steam-power since leaving the Waigat. The 
three steam-whalers have gone southward ; none others 
have arrived. They appear to us to be leaving the whales 
behind them ; we saw many whilst up the strait, and at the 
edge of the remaining ice. The natives said they would 
remain as long as the ice remained, but wheu it all broke 
up they would return into Baffin's Bay and go southward ; 
and that these animals arrive in early spring, and do not 
pass through the strait into any other sea beyond. 

Monday evening, 9th. — On the night of the 6th a plea- 
sant, fair breeze sprang up, and enabled us to dispense with 
the engine. An immense bear was shot ; he measured 8 
feet 7 inches in length, and is destined for the museum of 
the Royal Dublin Society. On the 7th the wind gradually 
freshened and frustrated my intention of examining the 
wreck spoken of near Cape Hay ; at night it increased to 
a very heavy gale. Although past Navy Board Inlet, 
very little ice had yet been met with. The weather, and 
fear of ice to leeward, obliged us to heave the vessel to, 




TUB ' KOX ' ARRIVING AT BKKCI1KY ISI.AND. 
Drawn by Captain May. 




MOONLIGHT IN THR ARCTIC REGIONS. 
l>rawu by '^iptaiu May. 



Aug. 1858. BEECHEY ISLAND DEPOT. 145 

under main trysail and fore staysail. The squalls were 
extremely violent and seas unusually high. 

All Sunday, the 8th, the gale continued, although not 
with such extreme force ; the deep rolling of the ship, and 
moaning of the half-drowned dogs amidst the pelting sleet 
and rain, was anything but agreeable. Notwithstanding 
that I had been up all the previous night, I felt too anxious 
to sleep ; the wind blew directly up Barrow Strait, drifting 
us about two miles an hour. Occasionally she drifted to 
leeward of masses of ice, reminding us that if any Of the 
dense pack which covered this sea only three weeks ago 
remained to leeward of us, we must be rapidly setting down 
upon its weather edge. The only expedient in such a case, 
is to endeavor to run into it — once well within its outer- 
margin a ship is comparatively safe— the danger lies in the 
attempt to penetrate ; to escape out of the pack after- 
wards is also a doubtful matter. 

In the evening we were glad to see the land, and fiud 
ourselves off the north shore near Cape Bullen, for the- 
violent motion of the ship and very weak horizontal mag- 
netic force had rendered our compasses useless. This- 
morning, the 9th, the gale broke, and the sea began to sub- 
side rapidly; by noon it was almost calm, but a thick 
gloom prevailed, ominous, it might be, of more mischief, 
All along the land there is ice, but, broken up into harm- 
less atoms. We have carried away a.maingaff and a jib- 
stay, but have come remarkably well through such a gate 
with such trifling damage. 

11th. — -Before noon to-day we anchored inside Cape* 
Riley, and immediately commenced preparations for embark- 
ing coals. I visited Beechey Island house, and found the 
door open ; it must have been blown in by an easterly gale 
long ago, for much ice had accumulated immediately inside 
it. Most of the biscuit in bags was damaged, but everyi 
thing else was in perfect order. "Upon the north and west 
10 



146 BEECHET ISLAND DEPOT. Chap. X. 

Bides of the house, where a wall had been constructed, there 
was a vast accumulation of ice, in which the lower tier of 
casks between the two were imbedded, and its surface 
thawed into pools. Neither casks nor walls should have 
been allowed to stand near the house. The southern and 
eastern sides were clear and perfectly dry. The ' Mary' 
decked boat, and two 30-feet lifeboats, were in excellent 
order, and their paint appeared fresh, but oars and bare 
wood were bleached white. 

The gutta-percha boat was useless when left here, and 
remains in the same state. Two small sledge travelling 
boats were damaged ; one of them had been blown over 
and over along the beach until finally arrested by the 
other. The bears and foxes do not appear to have touched 
any thing. I have taken on board all letters left here for 
. Franklin's or Collinson's expeditions, and also a 20-feet 
sledge-boat for our own travelling purposes. 

Last night we steamed very close round Cape Hurd in 
a dense fog, and crept along the land as our only guide : 
we were thus led into Rigby Bay, and discovered a shoal 
off its entrance by grounding upon it. After a quarter of 
an hour we floated off unhurt. 

In lowering a boat to pursae a bear, Robert Hampton 
fell overboard ; fortunately he could swim, and was very 
soon picked up, but the intense cold of the water had almost 
paralyzed his limbs. The bear was shot and taken on 
board. 

Sunday 15th, 9 P. M. — Our coaling was completed yes- 
terday, and the ship brought over and anchored off the 
house in Erebus and Terror Bay. A small proportion of 
provisions and winter clothing has been embarked to com- 
plete our deficiencies ; the ice has been scraped out of the 
house and its roof thoroughly repaired, a record deposited, 
and door securely closed. 

I found lying at Grodhavn a marble tablet which had 



Aug. 1858. AN ARCTIC MONUMENT. 14f 

been sent out by Lady Franklin, in the American expe- 
dition of 1855 under Captain Hartstein, for the purpose 
of being erected at Beechey Island. Circumstances pre- 
vented the Americans executing this kindly service, and it 
fell to my lot to convey it to the site originally intended. 
The tablet was constructed in New York, under the direc- 
tion of Mr. Grinnell, at the request of Lady Franklin, in 
order that the only opportunity which then offered of send- 
ing it to the Arctic regions might not be lost. I placed 
the monument upon the raised flagged square in the centre 
of which stands the cenotaph recording the names of those 
who perished in the Government expedition under Sir Ed- 
ward Belcher. Here also is placed a small tablet to the 
memory of Lieutenant Bellot. I could not have selected 
for Lady Franklin's memorial a more appropriate or con- 
spicuous site. The inscription runs as follows : 



|48 THE INSCRIPTION. Chap. X. 

TO THE MEMORY OF 

FRANKLIN, 
CROZIER, FITZJAMES, 

AND ALL THEIR 

GALLANT BROTHER OFFICERS AND FAITHFUL 

COMPANIONS WHO HAVE SUFFERED AND PERISHED 

IN THE CAUSE OF SCIENCE AND 

THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY. 

THIS TABLET 

IS ERECTED NEAR THE SPOT WHERE 

THEY PASSED THEIR FIRST ARCTIC 

WINTER, AND WHENCE THEY ISSUED 

FORTH TO CONQUER DIFFICULTIES OR 

TO DIE. 

IT COMMEMORATES THE GRIEF OF THEIR 

ADMIRING COUNTRYMEN AND FRIENDS, 

AND THE ANGUISH, SUBDUED BY FAITH, 

OF HER WHO HAS LOST, IN THE HEROIC 

LEADER OF THE EXPEDITION, THE MOST 

DEVOTED AND AEFECTIONATE OF 

HUSBANDS. 

, 

"AND SO HE BRINGETH THEM UNTO THE 

HAVEN WHERE THEY WOULD BE." 

1855. 

This stone has been entrusted to be affixed in its place by the Officers and Crew of 
the American Expedition, commanded by Lt. H. J. Hartstein, in search of Dr. 
Kane and his Companions. 

This Tablet having been left at Disco by the 

American Expedition, which was unable to *> 

reach Beechey Island, in 1855, was put on 

board the Discovery Yacht Fox, and is now 

set up here by Captain M'Clintock, R. N., 

commanding the final expedition of search 

for ascertaining the fate of Sir John Franklin 

and his companions, 1858. 



Atjg. 1858. [REFLECTIONS AT BEECHEY ISLAND. 149 

We are now ready to proceed upon our voyage from 
Beechey Island, and there is no ice in sight ; but having 
worked almost unceasingly since our arrival up to the pre- 
sent hour, the men require a night's rest. Nearly forty tons 
of fuel have been embarked. 

The total absence of ice in Barrow Strait is astonishing. 
No less so are the changes and chances of this singular 
navigation. Twelve days later than this in 1850, when I 
belonged to Her Majesty's ship 'Assistance,' with consider- 
able difficulty we came within sight of Beechey Island ; a 
cairn on its summit attracted notice ; Captain Ommanney 
managed to land, and discovered the first traces of the mis- 
sing expedition. Next day the United States schooner 
'Rescue' arrived; the day after, Captain Penny joined us, 
and subsequently Captain Austin, Sir John Boss, and Cap- 
tain Forsyth, — in all, ten vessels were assembled here. Thin 
day six years, when in command of the 'Intrepid,' we sailed 
from here for Melville Island in company with the 'Reso- 
lute.' Again I was here at this time in 1854, — still frozen 
up, — in the ' North Star,' and doubts were entertained of 
the possibility of escape. 

To come down to a later period, it was this day fortnight 
only that I set out for the- native village in Pond's Inlet, 
under the guidance of an old woman ; the trip was inter- 
esting, but we failed to obtain the slightest clue to the 
"whereabouts" of the missing ships; moreover, our own 
little vessel had a most providential escape from being 
crushed against the cliffs ; and this day week was spert in 
contending with a furious gale, during which the ship had 
nearly been driven to leeward and dashed to pieces by the 
sea-beaten pack. Yet these are only preliminaries, — we are 
only now about to commence the interesting part of our 
voyage. It is to be hoped the poor ' Fox' has many more 
lives to spare. t 

Monday night, 16th Aug. — Sailed from Beechey Island 



!50 PROCEED DOWN PEEL STRAIT. Chap. X. 

this morning, and in the evening landed at Cape Hotham. 
A small depot of provisions and three boats were left there 
by former expeditions. Of the depot all has been destroyed 
with the exception of two casks landed in 1850. The boats 
were sound, but several of their oars, which had been se- 
cured upright, were found- broken down by bears — those 
inquisitive animals having a decided antipathy to anything 
stuck up — stuck up things in general being, in this country, 
unnatural. Fragments of the depot and the broken oars 
were tossed about in every direction. Numerous records 
were found ; to the most recent a few lines were added, 
stating that we had removed the two whale-boats — one to 
be left at Port Leopold, the other to replace our own 
crushed by the ice. 

lfy/i.— Last night battling against a strong foul wind 
with sea, in rain and fog. To-day much loose ice is seen 
southward of Griffith's Island. The weather improved this 
afternoon, and we shot gallantly past Limestone Island, and 
are now steering down Peel Strait ; all of us in a wild state 
of excitement — a mingling of anxious hopes and fears ! 

18th. — For 25 miles last evening we ran unobstructedly 
down Peel Strait, but then came in sight of unbroken ice 
extending across it from shore to shore ! It was much de- 
cayed, and of one year's growth only ; yet as the strait con- 
tinues to contract for 60 miles further, and it appeared to 
me to afford so little hope of becoming navigable in the 
short remainder of the season, I immediately turned about 
for Bellot Strait, as affording a better prospect of a passage 
into the western sea discovered by Sir James Boss from 
Four River Point in 1849. Our disappointment at the 
interruption of our progress was as sudden as it was severe. 
We did not linger in hope of a change, but steered out 
again into the broad waters of Barrow Strait. However, 
should Bellot Strait prove hopeless, I intend to return 



Aug. 1858. POET LEOPOLD. 151 

hither to make one more effort before the close of the 
season. 

"We are now approaching Port Leopold, where it is ne- 
cessary to stop for a few hours to examine the state of the 
steam launch, provisions and stores, left there in 1849, as 
adverse circumstances may oblige me to fall back upon it as 
a point of support. 

l'dth. — At anchor in Port Leopold ; it is perfectly clear 
of ice ; we arrived in the night. How astonishingly bare 
the land looks ; it is more barren than Beechey Island, 
whilst the rock contains far fewer fossils ! On this day nine 
years ago the harbor and sea continued covered with ice, 
and the ships ('Enterprise' and 'Investigator') were unable 
to escape. At some period since then the ice has been 
pressed in upon the low shingle point ; it has forced the 
launch up before it, and left her broadside on to'the beach, 
with both bows stove in, and in want of considerable re- 
pairs, but the means are all at hand for executing them. 
We tried to haul her further up, but she was firmly im- 
bedded and frozen into the ground. Many things appear 
to have been covered with the loose shingle, bags of coal 
and coke just appearing through it scarcely above high- 
water mark. Amongst the missing articles is the steam- 
engine. 

Although the flagstaff upon the summit of North East 
Cape is still standing, the one erected upon this point and 
almost the whole of the framing of the house lies prostrate. 
The provisions appeared to be sound, but were not gene- 
rally examined. The whale-boat we removed from Cape 
Hotham was landed here, and a record of our proceedings 
added to the many which have accumulated here during 
the last ten years. Some coke and a few things useful to 
us and merely decaying here were taken on board, and by 
evening we were again speeding onward with augmented 
resources, and the confidence inspired by a secure depot in 



152 DEPOT BAY. Chap. X. 

our rear; buoyed up moreover by. the joyful anticipation of 
soon reaching the goal of our long-deferred hopes. 

20th. — Noon. Exactly off Fury Point. There is one 
large iceberg far off in the S. E. ; no other ice in sight ! I 
would have landed at Fury Beach to examine the remain- 
ing supplies there, but a snow shower prevented our distin- 
guishing anything, and a strong tide carried us past before 
we were aware of it. 

We feel that the crisis of our voyage is near at hand. 
Does Bellot Strait really exist ? if so, is it free from ice ? 

A depot of provisions is being got ready to be landed, 
should it be practicable for us to push through and proceed 
to the southward. 

21st. — On approaching Brentford Bay last evening packed 
ice was seen streaming out of it, also much ice in the S. E. 
The northern point of entrance was landed upon by Sir 
John Boss in 1829, and named Possession Point; we 
rounded it closely, and could distinguish a few stones piled 
up upon a large rock near its highest part — this is his 
cairn. As we passed westward between the point and 
Browne's Island, through a channel a mile in width, a close 
pack was discovered a few miles ahead ; and it being past 
ten o'clock, and almost dark, the ship was anchored in a 
convenient bay three or four miles within Possession Point. 
Here our depot is to be landed, therefore we shall name this 
for the present Depot Bay ; a very narrow isthmus between 
its head and Hazard Inlet unites the low limestone penin- 
sula, of which Possession Point is the extreme, to the main- 
land. 

To-day an unsparing use of steam and canvas forced the 
ship eight miles further west; we were then about half-way 
through Bellot Strait! Its western capes are lofty bluffs, 
such as may be distinguished fifty miles distant in clear 
weather; between them there was a clear broad channel, 
but five or six miles of close heavy pack intervened — tho 



Aug. 1S58. BELLOT STRAIT. 153 

sole obstacle to our progress. Of course this pack will 
speedily disperse ; — it is no wonder that we should feel 
elated at such a glorious prospect, and content to bide our 
time in the security of Depot Bay. A feeling of tranquillity 
— of earnest, hearty satisfaction — has come over us. There 
is no appearance amongst us of anything boastiful ; we 
have all experienced too keenly the vicissitudes of Arctic 
voyaging to admit of such a feeling. 

At the turn of tide we perceived that we were being 
carried, together with the pack, back to the eastward; 
every moment our velocity was increased, and presently we 
were dismayed at seeing grounded ice near us, but were 
very quickly swept past it at the rate of nearly six miles an 
hour, though within 200 yards of the rocks, and of instant 
destruction ! As soon as we possibly could we got clear 
of the packed ice, and left it to be wildly hurled about by 
various whirlpools and rushes of the tide, uutil finally 
carried out into Brentford Bay. The ice-masses were large, 
and dashed violently against each other, and the rocks lay 
at some distance off the southern shore ; we had a fortunate 
escape from such dangerous company. After anchoring 
again in Depot Bay, a large stock of provisions and a 
record of our proceedings were landed, as there seems every 
probability of advancing into the western sea in a very few 
days. 

The appearance of Bellot Strait is precisely that of a 
Greenland fiord ; it is about 20 miles long and scarcely a 
mile wide in the narrowest part, and there, within a quarter 
of a mile of the north shore the depth was ascertained to be 
400 feet. Its granitic shores are bold and lofty, with a very 
respectable sprinkling of vegetation for lat. T2°. Some of 
the hill-ranges rise to about 1500 or 1600 feet above the 
sea. 

The low land eastward of Depot Bay is composed of lime- 
stone, destitute alike of fossils and vegetation. The granite 



154 BELLOT STRAIT. Chap. X. 

commences upon the west shore "of Depot bay, and is at 
once bold and rugged. Many seals have been seen; a 
young bear was shot, and Walker took a photograph of 
him as he lay upon our deck, the dogs creeping near to lick 
up the blood. 

The great rapidity of the. tides in Bellot Strait fully ac- 
counts for the spaces of open water seen by Mr. Kennedy* 
when he travelled through, early in April. The strait runs 
very nearly east and west, but its eastern entrance is well 
masked by Long Island ; when half-way through, both seas 
are visible. As in Greenland, the night tides are much 
higher than the day tides ; last night it was high water at 
about half-past eleven ; as nearly as we can estimate, the 
tide runs through to the west, from two hours before high 
water until four hours after it ; that is, the flood-tide comes 
from the west ! Such is also the case in Hecla and Fury 
Strait ; in both places the tide from the west is much the 
strongest. I am not sufficiently informed to discuss this 
subject, but infer the existence of a channel between Vic- 
toria and Prince of Wales' Land. The rise and fall is much 
less upon the western side of the Isthmus of Boothia than 
upon the east, and it likewise decreases, we know, in Bar- 
row Strait, as we advance westward. 

23rd. — Yesterday Bellot Strait was again examined, but 
the five miles of close pack occupied precisely the same po- 
sition as if heaped together by contending tides ; considera- 
ble augmentations were moreover seen drifting in from the 
western sea. Finding nothing could be effected in Bellot 
Strait, we sought in vain for the more southern channel 
which should exist to form Levesque Island : we did, how- 
ever, find a beautiful harbor, and are now securely anchored 
in its north-west arm ; I have named it after the gentleman 
whose former island I have thus reluctantly converted into 

* Mr. Kennedy discovered this important passage when in command 
of the ' Prince Albert/ in 1851. 



Aus. 1858. A RAMBLE ON SHORE. 155 

the northern extreme of the Boothian Peninsula, and con- 
sequently of the American continent. The south-western 
angle of Brentford Bay is still covered with unbroken ice. 

This evening we all landed to explore our new ground. 
Young and Petersen shot some brent geese ; Walker saw 
two deer, but he was botanizing, and had no gun ; others 
were seen by some of the men, and followed, but without 
success. 

I enjoyed a delightfully refreshing ramble, a mile or two 
inland, through a gently ascending valley, then two miles 
along the narrow margin of a pretty little lake between 
mountains, beyond which lay a much larger one, four or five 
miles in diameter ; this farther lake was only partially di- 
vested of its winter ice. Here the scenery was not only 
grand, but beautiful ; there was enough of vegetation to 
tint the craggy hill-sides and to make the sheltered hollows 
absolutely green ; deer-tracks and the footprints of wild 
fowl were everywhere numerous along the water-side. I 
saw two decayed skulls of musk oxen, and circles of stones 
by the little lake, doubtless at some remote period the 
summer residence of wandering Esquimaux ; hence I infer 
that fish abound in the lake, and that this valley is a 
favorite deer-pass. 

But the contemplation of these objects, although agreea- 
ble, was not the object of my solitary ramble ; I came on 
shore to cogitate undisturbed in a leisurely and philosophic 
manner. We hoped very soon to enter an unknown sea ; 
discoveries were to be made, contingencies provided for, 
and plans prepared to meet them. 

Yesterday Petersen shot an immense bearded seal ; it 
sank, but floated up in an hour afterwards. This animal 
measured 8 feet long and weighed about 500 lbs. We pre- 
fer its flesh to that of the small seals, and its blubber will 
afford a valuable addition to our stock of lamp oil for the 
coming winter. 



X56 PERILOUS AMUSEMENT. Chap. X. 

25th. — In Depot Bay. We remained but twenty -four 
hours in Levesque Harbor ; a change of wind led us to hope 
for a removal of the ice in Bellot Strait, therefore I deter- 
mined to make another attempt. 

When off the table-land, where the depth is not more 
than from 6 to 10 fathoms, and the tides run strongest, the 
ship hardly moved over the ground, although going 6^ 
knots through the water ! Thus delayed, darkness over- 
took us, and we anchored at midnight in a small indentation 
of the north shore, christened by the men Fox's Hole, 
rather more than half-way through. 

For several hours we had been coquetting with huge ram- 
pant ice-masses that wildly surged about in the tide- way, or 
we dashed through boiling eddies, and sometimes almost 
grazed the tall cliffs ; we were therefore naturally glad of a 
couple or three hours' rest, even in such a very unsafe po- 
sition. At early dawn we again proceeded west, but for 
three miles only ; the pack again stopped us, and we could 
perceive that the western sea was covered with ice ; the east 
wind, which could alone remove it, now gave place to a hard- 
hearted westerly one. 

All the strait to the eastward of us, and the ea-stern sea, 
as far as could be seen from the hill-tops, is perfectly free 
from ice, whereas in the direction we wish to proceed there 
is nothing but packed-ice, or water which cannot be reached. 
Bitterly disappointed we are, of course ; yet there is reason- 
able ground for hope; grim winter will not ratify the 
obstinate proceedings of the western ice for nearly four 
weeks. 

Last evening's amusement was most exciting, nor was it 
without its peculiar perils. With cunning and activity 
worthy of her name, our little craft warily avoided a„tilting- 
match with the stout blue masses which whirled about, as if 
with wilful impetuosity, through the narrow channel ; some 
of them were so large as to ground even in 6 or 7 fathoms 



Are}. 1858. PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES. 157 

water. Many were drawn into the eddies, and, acquiring 
considerable velocity in a contrary direction, suddenly broke 
bounds, charging out into the stream, and entering into 
mighty conflict with their fellows. After such a frolic the 
masses would revolve peaceably or unite with the pack, and 
await quietly their certain dissolution ; may the day of that 
wished-for dissolution be near at hand ! Nothing but 
strong hope of success induced me to encounter such dan- 
gerous opposition. I not only hoped, but almost felt, that 
we deserved to succeed. 

Two plans were now occupying my thoughts, both of 
them resulting from the conviction that we should probably 
be compelled to winter to the eastward of Bellot Strait : 
the most important of these plans is that of finding some 
series of valleys, chain of lakes, or continuous low land, 
practicable as an overland sledge-route to the western coast, 
along which we may transport depots of provisions this 
autumn ; for it is certain that the strong tides will prevent 
Bellot Strait from being frozen over till winter is far ad- 
vanced, and its surface will afford us no means of passing 
westward with our sledges. 

The other plan, and that which we are now about to exe- 
cute, is to land a small depot of provisions 60 or TO miles 
to the southward, and down Prince Regent's Inlet, in order 
to facilitate communication with the Esquimaux either this 
autumn or in early spring. 

This precautionary step became so necessary in the event 
of the west coast presenting unusual difficulties, that I de- 
termined to carry it at once into execution. Quitting the 
"Fox's Hole," and resting for one night in Depot Bay, we 
sailed thence on the 26th ; a fine breeze carried us rapidly 
southward along the coast of Regent Inlet ; there was but 
little obstruction ; occasionally it was necessary to pass 
through a stream of loose ice; but we saw little of any 
kind, compared to the experiences of Sir John Ross in 1829. 



158 ROSS'S CAIRN. Chap. X. 

About dusk (nine o'clock) much loose ice to the south- 
ward prevented our making any attempt at further pro- 
gress ; we therefore anchored off the coast — in Stillwell 
Bay, I think — about 45 miles from the Depot Bay. Here 
the depot, consisting of 120 rations, was landed. I observe 
that it has only been on penetrating into Brentford Bay 
that we have found the primary rocks washed by the sea ; 
the coast-line both north and south, as far as, and beyond 
our present position, is a low shore of pale limestone, desti- 
tute of fossils ; we can, however, see granitic hill-ranges 
far in the interior. 

On the 27th we commenced beating back to the north- 
ward, tacking between the land and the ice which lay about 
15 miles off shore. Towards night the wind greatly in- 
creased, and the ship, under reefed sail, plunged violently 
into the short, swift, high seas ; we also felt quite as uneasy 
and restless as the ship, in our great anxiety to get back 
and ascertain what changes were likely to be effected by the 
gale. 

28th. — To-night the weather is more pleasant; the keen 
and contrary wind has given place to a gentle, fair breeze, 
the swell has almost subsided, no ice has been seen to-day, 
and the night is dark and unusually mild. I can hardly 
fancy that the sea which gently rocks us is not the ocean, 
and the soft air the breath of our own temperate region 1 
The delusion is charming ! 

30th. — Yesterday after anchoring in Depot Bay I walked 
over to Possession Point, to visit Boss's cairn. I found a 
few stones piled up on two large boulders, and under each 
a halfpenny, one of which I pocketed. Upon the ground 
lay the fragments of a bottle which once contained the re- 
cord, and near it a staff about 4 feet long. Having calcu- 
lated upon finding the bottle sound, I was obliged to make 
an impromptu record-case of its long neck, into which I 
thrust my brief document, and consigned it to the safe 



At7«. 1858. MOUNT WALKER. „ 159 

custody of a small heap of stones, the staff being erected 
over it. 

It was dark before I got on board again. The strait had 
been reconnoitered from the hills, and was reported to be 
perfectly clear of ice ! This morning we made a fourth 'at- 
tempt to pass through; but Bellot Strait was by no means 
clear ; the same obstruction existed which defeated our last 
attempt, and in precisely the same place. Returning east- 
ward, we entered a narrow arm of the sea, nearly a couple 
of miles to the west of Depot Bay, and anchored in a small 
creek perfectly sheltered and land-locked, at the foot of a 
sugarloaf hill.* The temperature is falling ; last night it 
stood at 24°. 

* Subsequently named Mount Walker. 



160 PROCEED WESTWARD IN A BOAT. Ceap. XL 



CHAPTER XI. 

Proceed westward in a boat — Cheerless state of the western sea — Strug, 
gles in Bellot Strait — Falcons, good Arctic fare — The resources of 
Boothia Felix • — Future sledge traveling — Heavy gales — Hobson's 
party start — Winter quarters — Bellot's Strait — Advanced depot es- 
tablished — Observatories — Intense cold — Autumn travelers — Nar- 
row escape. 

Most anxious to know the real state of the ice in the 
western sea — upon which our hopes so entirely depend — I 
intend starting this evening by boat, as far through Bellot 
Strait as the ice will permit, then land and ascend the west- 
ern coast-hills. 

1st Sept. — My boat party consisted of four men and the 
doctor, who came with me for the novelty of the cruise, 
bringing his camera to fasten upon anything picturesque. 
We landed near Half-way Island, and pitched our tent for 
the night. Early next morning I commenced the rather 
formidable undertaking of ascending the hills, for it is not 
possible to pass under the cliffs, and at last I gained the 
summit of the loftiest, overlooking Cape Bird at a distance 
of 3 or 4 miles, and affording a splendid view to the west- 
ward, as well as glimpses between the hills of the blue 
eastern sea. Long and anxiously did I survey the western 
sea, ice, and lands, and could not but feel that in all proba- 
bility we should not be permitted to pass beyond our present 
position. 

To the northward Four River Point — Sir James Ross' 
farthest in 1849 — was at once recognized; rather more 
than nine years ago I stood upon it with him, and gazed 




M CLIXTOCK IN HIS BOAT SAILIXG THROUGH HET.LOT STRAIT. 
Drawn by Captain May. 



Avg. 1858. FOUR RIVER POINT. 161 

almost as anxiously in this direction ! My present view 
confirmed the impression then received, of a wide channel 
leading southward. The outline of the western land is very 
distant ; it is of considerable but uniform elevation, and 
slopes gradually clown to the strait, which is between 30 
and 40 miles wide. This western land appears to be lime- 
stone, and without off-lying islands. Our side of the strait 
or sea, on the contrary, is primary rock, and fringed with 
islets and rocks; its southern extreme bears S. S. W., and 
is probably 30 miles distant. 

~Now for the ice. Although broken up, it lies against 
this shore in immense fields: there is but little'water or 
room for ice-movement. Along the west shore I can dis- 
tinguish long faint streaks of water. There is no appear- 
ance of disruption about Four River Point or in the con- 
tracted part of Peel Strait — we have nothing to hope for 
in that quarter ; neither is there any evidence of current or 
pressure ; the ice appears much decayed ; but, as I am 
surveying it from a height of about 1600 feet, I may be 
deceived. 

The strong contrast between the eastern and western seas 
and lands is very unfavorable to the latter. 

Apart from the ice, I was fortunate, however, in discover- 
ing a long narrow lake, occupying a valley which lies be- 
tween a small inlet near Cape Bird and Hazard Inlet — in 
fact, a sort of echo of Bellot Strait — and I look upon it 
as our sledge-route for the autumn, since it appears proba- 
ble we shall winter in our present position. 

This is a wondrous rough country to scramble over ; one 
never ceases to wonder how such huge blocks of rock can 
have got into such strange positions. I noticed two masses 
in particular, each of them perched upon three small stones. 
The rock is gneiss; there is also much granite. Even 
upon the hill-tops pieces of limestone are occasionally met 
with. 

11 



162 STRUGGLES IN BELLOT STRAIT. Chap. XL 

My walk occupied eleven hours, and, although I every- 
where saw traces of animals, the only living thing seen was 
a grey falcon. During my absence from the tent the men 
rambled all over the hills, but saw no game ; our encamp- 
ment was therefore shifted to a better position near the 
eastern termination of the table-land. This morning we 
explored the neighboring valleys ; saw three deer, and shot 
one, returning on board the ' Fox' in time for dinner. 

Many deer had been seen not far from the ship, and Hob- 
son had shot a bearded seal. I have organized another 
boat party ; Young will start with it to-morrow morning to 
seek a sledge route from the southern angle of Brentford 
Bay to the western sea. 

5th. — Young returned this morning ; he reports the 
south-west angle of the bay not to run in so far as we 
expected, and to be environed by very high land, imprac- 
ticable for sledges. 

Our Esquimaux, Samuel, shot a fawn to-day. 

Strong northerly winds have latterly prevailed; Bellot 
Strait is quite clear of ice ; to-morrow morning, therefore, 
we shall make our fifth attempt to get the ' Fox' through. 

Qth. — Steamed through the clear waters of Bellot Strait 
this morning, and made fast to the ice across its western 
outlet at a distance of two miles from the shore, and close 
to a small islet which we have already dubbed Femmican 
Book, having landed upon it a large supply of that sub- 
stantial traveller's fare, with other provisions for our future 
sledging-parties. This ice is in large stout fields, of more 
than one winter's growth, apparently immovable in conse- 
quence of the numerous islets and rocks which rise through and 
hold it fast. If the weather permits, we shall remain here, 
for a few days and watch the effects of winds and tides upon 
it ; that the ship will get ''any further seems improbable. 

10/$. — I have explored a small inlet near Cape Bird, 
which we have named False Strait, from its striking re- 






Sept. 1858. FALCONS GOOD ARCTIC FARE. 163 

semblance to the true one, and find it is only separated 
from the long lake by half a mile of low land ; the lake we 
have ascertained to be about 12 miles long, and from it 
valleys extend eastward and southward, so that we are sure 
of a good sledge-route, — an important matter, as the hills 
rise to 1600 feet above the sea. 

Cape Bird is 500 feet high ; from its summit we carefully 
observe the ice. This granite coast presents a jagged 
appearance ; it is deeply indented and studded with islets. 
The ice in the Western Sea (or Peel's Strait) is much more 
broken up than it was upon the 31st ultimo; there is no 
longer any fixed ice except within the grasp of the islets. 
Birds and animals have become very scarce ; three seals 
have been shot, and a bear seen. To-morrow we shall re- 
turn to our harbor, and endeavor to procure a few more 
reindeer before they migrate southward. 

12th. — Yesterday we anchored within the entrance of our 
creek, being a more convenient position than up at its head. 
We are already in our wintering position, and, being with- 
out occupation, one day seems most remarkably like an- 
other 1 Although the fondly cherished hope of pushing 
farther in our ship can no longer be entertained, yet as long 
as the season continues navigable it is our duty to be in 
readiness to avail ourselves of any opportunity, however 
improbable, of being able to do so. 

Once firmly frozen in, our autumn travelling will com- 
mence, and afford welcome occupation. Almost all on 
board have guns ; ammunition is supplied, and a sailor 
with a musket is a very contented and zealous sportsman, 
if not always a successful one ; it is a powerful incentive 
to exercise. To-day the ramblers saw only two hares, an 
ermine, and an owl. Some peregrine falcons have lately 
been shot ; Petersen declares they are " the best beef in 
the country, and the young birds tender and white as 
chicken. " 



164 PORT KENNEDY. Chap XL 

A few days ago a large cask of biscuit was opened, and 
a living mouse discovered therein ! it was small, but mature 
in years. The cask, a strong watertight one, was packed on 
shore at Aberdeen, in June, 185?, and remained ever after- 
wards unopened : there was no hole by which the mouse 
could Jiave got in or out, besides it is the only one ever 
seen on board. Ship's biscuit is certainly dry feeding, 
but who dares assert, after the experience of our mouse, 
that it is not wonderfully nutritious ? 

15th. — Two nights ago a comet was observed just be- 
neath the constellation of the Great Bear ; a series of 
measurements were commenced for determining its path. 
Yesterday I walked through the most promising valleys for 
eight hours, but did not see a living creature ; yet there is 
very fair show of vegetation, much more than at Melville 
Island, where the game is abundant. To the east there is 
not a speck of ice, excepting only a huge iceberg, probably 
the same we saw off Fury Point, a very unusual visitor from 
Baffin's Bay, whence it must have been driven by those 
long-continued east winds (of painful memory) in June and 
July. 

Hobson and two men encamped out for three days in 
order to scour the country ; they have only seen one hare 
and one lemming ! Walker geologizes ; amongst other 
things he finds much iron pyrites. The dredge has been 
used, but with very little success. The thermometer ranges 
between 20° and 30°. Fresh water pools are frozen over, 
sea-ice forms in every sheltered angle of the creeks. There 
is no snow upon the land, and this is one cause of the diffi- 
culty of finding game. 

I have determined upon naming this beautiful little anchor- 
age Port Kennedy, after my predecessor, the discoverer of 
Bellot Strait, of which it is decidedly the port. This is not a 
compliment to him, but an agreeable duty to me, and nowhere 
could Mr. Kennedy's name be more appropriately affixed 



Sept. 1858. FUTURE SLEDGE TRAVELING. 165 

then in close proximity with his interesting discovery. 
And now having made this acknowledgment, I may venture 
to confer our little vessel's name upon the islets which pro- 
tect its entrance. 

The island upon which Mr. Kennedy and Lieutenant 
Bellot encamped was Long Island, about three miles further 
to the south-east. 

11th. — Of late we have been preparing provisions and 

-equipments for our travelling parties. My scheme of sledge 

search comprehends three separate routes and parties of 

four men ; to each party a dog-sledge and driver will be 

attached ; Hobson, Young, and I will lead them. 

My journey will be to the Great Fish River, examining the 
shores of King William's land in going and returning ; Pe- 
tersen will be with me. 

Hobson will explore the western coast of Boothia as far 
as the magnetic pole, this autumn, I hope, and from Gates- 
head Island westward next spring. 

Young will trace the shore of Prince of Wales' Land from 
Lieutenant Browne's farthest, to the south-westward to 
Osborn's farthest, if possible, and also examine between 
Four River Point and Cape Bird. 

Our probable absence will be sixty or seventy days, com- 
mencing from about the 20th of March. 

In this way I trust we shall complete the Franklin search 
and the geographical discovery of Arctic America, both 
left unfinished by the former expeditions ; and in so doing 
we can hardly fail to obtain some trace, some relic, or, it 
may be, important records of those whose mysterious fate 
it is the great object of our labors to discover. But pre- 
vious to setting forth upon these important journej's, I must 
communicate with the Boothians, if possible, either upon 
the west or east coast, in November -or February. Sir 
John Ross' 'Narrative' informs us that they sometimes 
winter as far north upon the east coast as the Agnew River ; 



166 STEAM THROUGH -BELLOT STRAIT. Chap. XL 

and we know that upon the west, at the magnetic pole, their 
abandoned snow huts were occupied in June by Sir James 
Ross. 

l$th. — Yesterday we steamed once more through Bellot 
Strait, and took up our former position at the ice-edge, 
off its western entrance ; the ice, hemmed in by islets, has 
not moved. 

From the summit of Cape Bird I had a very extensive 
view this morning : there is now much water in the offing 
only separated from us by the belt of islet-girt ice scarcely 
four miles in width ! My conviction is that a strong east 
wind would remove this remaining barrier ; it is not yet too 
late. The water runs parallel to this coast, and is four or 
five miles broad ; beyond it there is ice, but it appears to 
be all broken up. 

Yesterday Young went upon a dog-sledge to the nearest 
south-western island, distant t or 8 miles. He reports the 
intervening ice cracked and weak in some places, but prac- 
ticable for loaded sledges ; the far side of the island is 
washed by a clear sea, and a bear which he shot plunged 
into it, and, drifting away, was lost. Young is in favor of 
carrying out the depot of provisions to or beyond this island 
by boat ; but as the temperature fell to 18° last night, and 
new ice forms wherever it is calm, I prefer the safer, al- 
though more laborious mode of sledging ; accordingly to-day 
our dogs carried out two sledge-loads of the provisions in- 
tended for the use of our parties hereafter. 

22nd. — All the provisions have now been carried out to 
the nearest island, which I shall temporarily uame Separa- 
tion* as there our spring parties will divide ; and a por- 
tion intended for Hobson's party and my own has been car- 
ried on to the nest island T or 8 miles further. Our tra- 



* Subsequently named after my excellent friend A. Arcedeckne, Esq., 
Commodore of the Royal London Yacht Club. 



Sept. 1858. WINTER QUARTERS. 167 

veiling boat and a small reserve depot have been placed 
upon Pemmican Rock, so already something has been done. 
Animal life is very scarce ; a few seals, an occasional gull, 
and three brown falcons, are the only creatures we have seen 
for several days past. Last evening at eight o'clock a very 
vivid flash of lightning was observed ; its appearance in 
these latitudes is very rare ; once only have I seen it before 
. — in September, 1850. 

25th. — Saturday night. Furious gales from JST. and S. 
W., but our barrier of coast-ice remains undiminished. 
This morning Hobson set off upon a journey of 14 or 
15 days' duration, with seven men and fourteen dogs; he 
is to advance the depots along shore to the south, and if 
successful will reach latitude ^1°. 

The temperature is mild (+11°), but it is snowy and dis- 
agreeable weather ; there is already enough snow upon the 
old ice to make walking laborious, and the land has also 
; assumed its wintry complexion. 

2Sth. — The ship was kept available for prosecuting her 
voyage up to the latest hour ; it was only yesterday that we 
left the western, ice, and in consequence of the vast accu- 
mulation of yong ice in Bellot Strait we have had consider- 
able difficulty in reaching the entrance of Port Kennedy : 
all within was so firmly frozen over that after three hours' 
steaming and working we only penetrated 100 yards; how- 
ever, we are in excellent position, although our wintering 
place will be farther out by a quarter of a mile than I in- 
tended. 

To-day we are unbending sails and laying up the engines 
— uncertainty no longer exists — here we are compelled to 
remain ; -and if we have not been as successful in our voy- 
age as a month ago we had good reason to expect, we 
may still hope that fortune will smile upon our more hum- 
ble, yet more arduous, pedestrian explorations — " Hope on, 
hope ever." In the meantime the sudden transition, from 



\ 



Igg RETURN OF HOBSON. Chap. XI. 

mental and physical wear and tear, to the security and quiet 
of winter quarters, is an immense relief. 

2nd Oct. — M. Petersen has shot two very fine bucks ; one 
is a magnificent fellow, weighing 354 lbs. (minus the 
paunch). Several deer have been seen ; they come from 
the N. along the slopes of the eastern hills. An ermine 
came on board a few nights ago and kept the dogs in a vio- 
lent state of excitement, being much too wary to come out 
from under the boat to be caught by them ; at length one 
of the men secured it. This beautiful little animal does 
not appear to be full grown ; its extreme length is 13 
inches. Two others came off to the ship, and to our great 
amusement eluded the men who gave chase, by darting into 
the soft snow — which is now a foot deep — and reappearing 
several yards off. 

The weather is too mild to satisfy us ; we wish for severe 
frost to seal us up securely, and make the ice strong enough 
to bear the sledge-loads of provisions, etc., which are to be 
landed for the purpose of making more room in the ship. 

6th. — A herd of a dozen reindeer crossed the harbor to- 
day. Last night Hobson and his companions returned, all 
well. They were stopped by the sea washing against the 
cliffs in latitude 71-^°, and to that point they have advanced 
the depots. Although the weather has been stormy here, they 
have been able to travel every day. They found the coast 
still fringed with islets, and deeply indented ; upon every 
point, moss-grown circles of stones indicated the abodes of 
Esquimaux in times long since gone by. 

One night they muzzled a dog, as she was in the habit of 
gnawing her harness: in this defenceless state, unable even 
to bark and arouse the men, her amiable sisterhood attacked 
her so fiercely that she died next day. 

In honor of so important and successful a commencement 
of our travelling, as that accomplished by Hobson, we had 
a feast of good venison, plum pudding and grog. It is 



Oct, 1858. OBSERVATORIES BUILT. 169 

quite evident tnat no more travelling can- be accomplished 
until the ice forms a pathway alongshore ; in this, as in 
some other respects, we anxiously await the advance of the 
season. The weather is mild ; Bellot Strait is almost 
covered with ice, which drifts freely with every tide. Rein- 
deer are seen almost daily ; they too are awaiting the 
freezing over of the sea to continue their southern travels. 
Our harbor-ice is weak, and covered a foot deep with a 
sludgy compound of snow and water. 

8th. — Yesterday an ermine was caught in a trap ; hither- 
to these most active little skirmishers have successfully rob- 
bed our fox-traps of their baits as fast as they could be re- 
newed. To-day Petersen shot another reindeer; it weighs 
130 lbs. ; many others were seen, also a wolf. Sometimes 
a few ptarmigan are met with, but hares very rarely. 

12th. — Fine weather generally prevails. We have 
landed about 100 casks, all our boats, and much lumber, 
so we shall have abundance of room on board. I enjoyed 
a long and exhilarating ramble upon snow-shoes to-'dayf 
without them I could not have gone over half the distauca 
— the snow lies so deep and soft — but I only saw one rein- 
deer. 

14th. — One of our magnetic observatories has been built ; 
it stands upon the ice, 210 yards S. (magnetic) from the 
ship, and is built of ice sawed into blocks — there not being 
any suitable snow ; it is just large enough to hold the de- 
clinometer for hourly observations, to be noted throughout 
the winter. The housings have been put over the ship 
already, as Hobson will leave us again in a few days to ad- 
vance his depot and my own to the vicinity of the magnetic 
pole, if possible. I would also send Young upon a similar 
duty, but the western sea cannot have frozen over yet. 

19th.— All the 17th a N. W. gale blew with fearful vio- 
lence ; yesterday it abated, but not sufficiently to allow our 
party to start. This morning Hobson got away with his 



IfO DULL TIMES. Chap. XI. 

nine men and ten dogs ; his absence may be from eighteen 
to twenty days. Autumn travelling is most disagreeable ; 
there is so much wind and snow, the latter being soft, deep 
and often wet; the sun is almost always obscured by mist, 
and is powerless for warmth or drying purposes, and the 
temperature is very variable. Moreover there are now only 
eight hours of misty daylight. To-day the morning was 
fine, and temperature +8°. Having completed the pre- 
liminary observations of the times of horizontal and vertical 
vibrations, also of the magnetic intensity, I set up to-day 
the declinometer, and commenced the hourly series of ob- 
servations on the diurnal variation. I trust it may con- 
tinue unbroken until we all set out upon our spring travels 
in March. A hare has been shot, but no other animals 
seen. 

29^7? . — It generally blows a gale of wind here ; the only 
advantage in return for so much discomfort is that the snow 
is the more quickly packed hard. As we have only three 
working men and an Esquimaux left on board for ship's du- 
ties, I was assisted a few days ago by the doctor, the en- 
gineer, and the interpreter, in building another observatory, 
intended for certain monthly magnetic observations; This 
edifice is constructed of snow. Whenever we have a calm 
night we can hear the crushing sound of the drift-ice in Bel- 
lot Strait, which continues open to within 500 yards of the 
Fox Islands, and emits dark chilling clouds of hateful, pes- 
tilent, abominable mist. 

The last two days have been very fine and calm : the men 
visited their fox and ermine traps, which are secreted 
amongst the rocks in a most mysterious manner — one ermine 
only has been taken. Seven or eight reindeer, and some 
ptarmigan were seen ; two of the latter and a hare were 
shot. We have commenced brewing sugar beer. 

2nd Nov. — Very dull times. No amount of ingenuity 
could make a diary worth the paper it is written on. An 



Nov. 1858. NARROW ESCAPE. 171 

occasional raven flies past, a couple more ptarmigan have 
been shot ; another K W. gale is blowing, with tempera- 
ture clown to -12°. 

Qth. — Saturday Night. The K W. gale blew without 
intermission for seventy hours, the temperature being about 
-15° : we hoped that our absent shipmates might be housed 
safely in snow huts. This afternoon all doubts respecting 
them were dispelled by their arrival in good health, but 
they evidently have suffered from cold and exposure during 
their absence of nineteen days. For the first six days they 
journeyed outward successfully; on that night they en- 
camped upon the ice ; it was at spring-tide ; a 1ST. E. gale 
sprang up, and blowing off shore detached the ice and 
drifted them off! The sea froze over on the cessation of 
the gale, and two days afterwards they fortunately regained 
the land near the position from which they were blown off ; 
they have indeed experienced much unusual danger and 
suffering from cold. 

As soon as they discovered that the ice was drifting off 
shore with them, they packed their sledges,' harnessed their 
dogs, and passed the night in anxious watching for some 
chance to escape. When the ice got a little distance off 
shore, it broke up under the influence of the wind and sea, 
until the piece they were upon was scarce 20 yards in di- 
ameter ; this drifted across the mouth of a wide inlet* until 
brought up against the opposite shore. The gale was 
quickly followed by an intense frost, which in a single night 
formed ice sufficiently strong to bear them in safety to the 
land, although it bent fearfully beneath their weight. 

The depots were eventually established in latitude Tl° ; 



* Named after Lord Wrottesley, in remembrance of the support given 
by him to the expedition, his advocacy of it in the House of Lords, and 
of the. facilities granted me by the Royal Society — of which he was Presi» 
dent — for the pursuit of scientific observations. 



172 EFFECT OF GALES. Chap. XI. 

beyond this Lieutenant Hobson did not attempt to advance, 
not only because their remaining provisions would not have 
warranted a longer absence, but because the open sea was 
seen to beat against the next headland. They have lived 
in tents only, and have not experienced the heavy gales so 
frequent here, and which are probably due mainly to our 
position in Bellot Strait, which performs the part of a funnel 
for both winds and tides between the two seas. 

That the western sea should still remain open argues a 
vast space southward for the escape of the ice, and prevents 
our western party from carrying across their depot : the 
attempt to do so would be extremely hazardous. We must 
only be stirring earlier in the spring. I am truly thankful 
for the safe return of our travelers — all this toil and expo- 
sure of ten persons and ten dogs has only advanced the de- 
pots 30 miles further — i. e. from 60 to 90 miles distant from 
the ship. 

Hardly a particle of snow remains upon the harbor-ice. 
the recent gales having swept it away ; and the porch of 
my snow-hut has been fretted away to a mere cob-web by 
the attrition of the snow-drift : the doctor and I rebuilt it 
to-day. Tbree reindeer and a wolf have been seen. 






Not. 1858, DEATH OF OUR ENGINEER. 173 



CHAPTER XII. 

Death of our engineer — Scarcity of game — The cold unusually trying — 
Jolly, under adverse circumstances — Petersen's information — Return 
of the sun of 1859 — Early spring sledge parties — Unusual severity of 
the winter — Severe hardships of early sledging — The western shores of 
Boothia — Meet the Esquimaux — Intelligence of Eranklin's ships — Re- 
turn to the ' Fox' — Allen Young returns. 

Nov. *lth. — Sunday evening. — Brief as is the interval 
since my last entry, yet how awful, and, to one of our small 
company, how fatal it has been ! Yesterday Mr. Brand was 
out shooting as usual, and in robust health ; in the evening 
Hobson sat with him for a little time. Mr. Brand turned 
the conversation upon our position and employments last 
year ; he called to remembrance poor Robert Scott, then in 
sound health, and the fact of his having carried our " Guy 
Pawkes" round the ship on the preceding day twelvemonth, 
and added mournfully, " Poor fellow 1 no one knows whose 
turn it may be to go next." He finished his evening pipe, 
and shut his cabin door shortly after nine o'clock. This 
morning, at seven o'clock, his servant found him lying upon 
the deck, a corpse, having been several hours dead. Apo- 
plexy appears to have been the cause. He was a steady, 
serious man, under forty years of age, and leaves a widow 
and three or four children ; what their circumstances are I 
am not aware. 

\0th. — This morning, the remains of Mr. Brand, inclosed 
in a neat coffin, were buried iu a grave on shore. A suitable 
headboard and inscription will be placed over it. Prom all 
that I have gathered, it appears that his mind had been 



174 SEVERE WEATHER. Chap. XII. 

somewhat gloomy for the last few days, dwelling much upon 
poor Scott's sudden death. Whether he really saw three 
reindeer on Saturday, watched their movements, and fired 
his Minie rifle at them when 100 yards distant, or whether 
it was the creation of a disordered brain, none can tell. 
On his first return on board he said he had seen deer tracks 
only. 

We are now without either engineer or engine-driver: we 
have only two stokers, and they know nothing about the 
machinery. Our numbers are reduced to twenty-four, in- 
cluding our interpreter and two Greenland Esquimaux. 

15j$,. — We have enjoyed ten days of moderate winds and 
calms, but the temperature has fallen as low as -31°. This 
causes frost-cracks in the ice across the harbor ; they will 
freeze over, and others will form, and gape, and freeze at 
intervals, so that by next spring we shall probably be moved 
several inches, perhaps feet, off shore. 

Mists have obscured the sun of late, and now it does not 
rise at all. We are indifferent ; its departure has become 
to us a matter of course. The usual winter covering of 
snow has been spread upon deck rather more than a foot 
thick. Its utility 4n preventing the escape of heat became 
at once strikingly apparent. Nothing has been seen but a 
few ptarmigan and one reindeer, which trotted off towards 
the ship. Our bullets missed him, and the dogs unfortu- 
nately caught sight and chased him away. I do not think 
any dogs could overtake a reindeer in this rough country ; 
the rocks would speedily lame them, and the snow, in many 
places, is quite deep enough to fatigue them greatly, whereas 
it offers but slight impediment to the deer, furnished as he 
is with long legs and spreading hoofs. 

29i!/i. — Animals have become very scarce. A few ptar- 
migan and willow-grouse have been seen, and three shot. 
Two days ago I saw two reindeer. The eastern sea is frozen 
over, and our old acquaintance the iceberg in Prince Ke 



Dec. 1853. COLD UNUSUALLY TRYING. 1^5 

gent's Inlet is still visible on a- clear day. We brew sugar- 
beer, and we set nets for seals, but catch none. The nets 
have been made and set in favorable positions under the ice 
by the Greenlanders, so we suppose the seals also have mi- 
grated elsewhere; if so, the Esquimaux could not winter 
here. We have no regular school this winter, but five of 
the men study navigation every evening under the guidance 
of Young. Hobson and I are doing all we can to make 
the ship dry, warm, and comfortable : our large snow porches 
over the hatchways are a great improvement. 

5th Dec. — Cold, windy weather, with chilling mists from 
the open water in Bellot Strait. We can seldom leave the 
shelter of the ship for a walk on shore, and, when we do, 
rarely see even a ptarmigan. 

12th. — Yery cold weather: thermometer down to -41°, 
and the breeze comes to us loaded with mist from the open 
water, causing the air to feel colder than it otherwise would. 
Bellot Strait has become a nuisance, not only from this 
cause, but from the strong winds — purely local — which sel- 
dom cease to blow through it. 

The seal nets have produced nothing ; and as there are 
no seals, we no longer wonder at not seeing bears. Three 
foxes have been trapped and a hare seen. Our canine force 
numbers twenty-four serviceable dogs and six puppies ; but 
these, I fear, will not be strong enough for sledging by 
March. The monotony of our lives is vastly increased by 
want of occupation, and confinement, by severe gales, to the 
ship for five days out of every seven. The general health 
is good, but there is a natural craving for fresh meat and 
fresh vegetables — in a great measure, perhaps, because they 
cannot be obtained ; but a well-filled letter-bag would be 
more welcome than anything I know of. 

2Qth.— -JJpon four days only during the last fourteen has 
the weather permitted us to walk. I allude to the wind as 
the obstacle to our exercise ; for temperature, when the air 



176 NEW-YEAR'S DAY. Chap. XII. 

is still, is no bar to any reasonable amount of it. Three or 
four coveys of ptarmigan have been seen, and of these I 
shot one brace. The cold increases : thermometer has fallen 
to -47^°, although blowing a moderate gale at the time, 
and the atmosphere dense with mist. 

Our Christmas has been spent with a degree of loyalty 
to the good old English custom at once spirited and refresh- 
ing. All the good things which could possibly be collected 
together appeared upon the snow-white deal tables of the 
men, as the officers and myself walked (by invitation) round 
the lower deck. Venison, beer, and a fresh stock of clay 
pipes, appeared to be the most prized luxuries ; but the 
variety and abundance of the eatables, tastefully laid out, 
was such as might well support the delusion which all 
seemed desirous of imposing upon themselves — that they 
were in a land of plenty — in fact, all but at home ! We 
contributed a large cheese and some preserves, and candles 
superseded the ordinary smoky lamps. With so many com- 
forts, and the existence of so much genuine good feeling, 
their evening was a joyous one, enlivened also by songs and 
music. 

Whilst all was order and merriment within the ship, the 
scene without was widely different. A fierce northwester 
howled loudly through the rigging, the snow-drift rustled 
Bwiftly past, no star appeared through the oppressive gloom, 
and the thermometer varied between 76° and 80° below the 
freezing-point. At one time it was impossible to visit the 
magnetic observatory, although only 210 yards distant, and 
with a rope stretched along, breast-high, upon poles the 
whole way. The officers discharged this duty for the 
quartermasters of the watches during the day and night. 

1st Jan. 1859. — This being Saturday night as well as 
New Year's Day, " Sweethearts and Wives" were remem- 
bered with even more than the ordinary feeling. New 
year's eve was celebrated with all the joyfulness which 



Jan. 1859. INTENSE COLD. Iff 

ardent hope can inspire : and we have reasonable ground 
for strong hope. At midnight the expiration of the old 
year and commencement of the new one was announced to 
ine by the band — flutes, accordion, and gong — striking up 
at my door. Some songs were sung, and the performance 
concluded with " God save the Queen ;" the few who could 
find space in our mess-room sang the chorus; but this by no 
means satisfied all the others who were without and unable 
to show themselves to the officers, so they echoed the 
chorus, and the effect was very pleasing. Our new year's 
day has been commemorated with all the substantials of 
Christmas fare, but without so much display, — less tailoring 
in pastry, not quite so much clipping of dough into roses-, 
and anchors, and nondescript animals, &c, &c. The past 
week has been cold and stormy ; it now blows strong, and 
the temperature is -44°. 

On the 29th a few fresh tracks of animals and a ptarmi- 
gan were seen : yesterday I saw three ptarmigan. Decem- 
ber proved to be an unusually cold month, its mean tempe- 
rature being -33° ; and it was rendered more than ordina- 
rily dark and gloomy by continual mists from Bellot Strait. 
This open water adds seriously to the drawbacks of a spot 
already sufficiently cheerless, gameless, and "wind-loved." 

2th. — Another week of uniform temperature of -40°, and 
confinement to the ship by strong winds ; the atmosphere 
is loaded with enveloping mists which impart a raw and 
surprisingly keen edge to the chilling blasts, blasts that no 
human nose can endure without blanching, be its propor- 
tions what they may. It is wonderful how the dogs stand 
it, and without apparent inconvenience, unless their fur 
happens to be thin. They lie upon the snow under the lee 
of the ship, with no other protection from the weather. 

To-day, the winds being light and temperature up to 
-30°, we enjoyed walks on shore, although the mist con- 
12 



Ifg PETERSEN'S INFORMATION. Chap. XIL 

tinued so dense as to limit our view to a couple of hundred 
yards. 

I learn from Petersen that the natives of Smith's Sound 
are well acquainted with the continuation of its shores con- 
siderably beyond the farthest point reached by Kane's 
exploring parties, but unfortunately no one thought of 
getting them to delineate their local knowledge upon paper. 
They spoke much of a large island near the west coast 
called " Umingnak" (musk ox) Island, where there was much 
open water, abounding with walrus, and where some of. 
their people formerly lived.* 

Esquimaux exist upon the east coast of Greenland as far 
north as lat T6°; how much farther north is not known. 
They are separated from the South Greenlanders by hun- 
dreds of miles of ice-bound coasts and impassable glaciers. 

Many centuries ago a milder climate may and probably 
did exist, and a corresponding modification of glacier and 
a sea less ice-encumbered might have rendered the migra- 
tion of these poor people from the sonth to their present 
isolated abodes practicable ; but to me it appears much 
more easy to suppose that they migrated eastward from the 
northern outlet of Smith's Sound. 

31st. — More pleasant weather since my last entry; and 
although last night the temperature fell to -4T°, yet it has 
generally been mild ; once it rose to -14°, but amply made 
amends by falling to -38° within twelve hours. We have 
enjoyed much of the moon's presence for the last ten days, 
but now she is waning and hastening away to the south. 
Daylight increases in strength and duration, consequently 
we walk more, and see more, and the winter's gloom gives 
place to activity and cheerfulness. Several ptarmigan, 
three or four hares, a snowy owl, and a bear-track, have at 



* Petersen conversed with two men who had themselves been up to 
Umingmak Island. 



Feb. 1859. EARLY SPRING SLEDGE PARTIES. 1^9 

various times been seen. Young has shot four ptarmigan, 
and I have shot a couple more and a hare, and the men 
have trapped two foxes. 

On board the ship the preparations for travelling take 
precedence of all other occupations. 

2Q(h. — Part of the sun's disc loomed above the horizon 
to-day, somewhat swollen and disfigured by the misty atmo- 
sphere, but looking benevolent withal. I happened to be 
diligently traversing the rocky hill-sides in the hope of 
finding some solitary hare dozing in fancied security, when 
the sun thus appeared in view, and halted to feast my eyes 
upon the glorious sight, aud scan the features of our return- 
ing friend. Hope and promise mingled in his bright beams. 
Again I moved upward, and with more elastic step ; for 
now the sun of 1859 was shining upon all nature around 
me. 

2nd February. — A lovely, calm, bright day, and beauti- 
fully clear, except over the waterspace in Bellot Strait, 
where rests a densely black mist, very strongly resembling 
the West Indian rain-squall as it looms upon the distant 
horizon. The increasing sunlight is cheering, but void of 
heat, and the mercury is often frozen. A few more ptar- 
migan have been shot. 

Our remaining serviceable dogs, twenty-two in number, 
have been divided with great care into three teams of seven 
each; the odd dog is added to my team, as my journey is 
expected to be the longest. The different sledge-parties 
will now feed up their dogs without limit, so that the utmost 
degree of work may be got out of them hereafter. 

January has been slightly colder than December, mean 
temperature being -33^°, but there has been rather less 
wind. 

8th. — All will be ready for the departure of Young and 
myself upon our respective journeys upon the morning of 
the 14th. 



180 ATTACK OF SCURVY. Chap. XII. 

Mr. Petersen and Alexander Thompson accompany me, 
with two dog-sledges, and fifteen dogs, dragging twenty- 
four days' provisions. My object is to communicate with 
the Boothians in the vicinity of the magnetic pole. Young 
takes his party of four men and his dog-sledge ; he will 
carry forward provisions for his spring exploration of the 
shores of Prince of Wales' Land, between the extreme 
points reached by Lieutenants Osborn and Brown in 1851. 

On the 3d I walked for seven and a half hours, and saw 
two reindeer, but could not approach within shot. Young 
examined the water-space in the strait, and finds it washes 
both shores, but extends east and west only about one mile. 
The Doctor has seen a seal and a dovekie sporting in it. 

For the last four days strong winds and intense cold have 
prevented us from rambling over the hills, besides which the 
minor preparations for travelling have given us more occu- 
pation on board. 

James Pitcher has got a slight touch of scurvy ; his 
gums are inflamed ; and now it comes out that he dislikes 
preserved meats, and has not eaten any since he has been 
in the ship ! He has lived upon salt meat and preserved 
vegetables, except for the very short periods in summer 
when birds could be obtained. He is rather a " used up" 
old fellow, too much so for our severe sledge-work, there- 
fore is one of the few who will remain to take care of the 
ship. That he should have retained his health for seventeen 
months, under the circumstances, speaks well for the whole- 
someness and quality of our provisions, and the ventilation 
and cleanliness of the ship. 

10th. — Extremely cold, with dense mists from the open 
water. Yesterday eight ptarmigan and a sooty fox were 
seen. We have consumed the last of our venison ; it sup- 
plied us for three days. We are drinking out a cask of 
sugar-beer, which is a very mild but agreeable beverage ; 
we make it on board. 



Feb. 1859. JOURNEY TO CAPE VICTORIA. 13^ 

Sunday night, 13th. — To-morrow evening, if fine, Young 
and I set off upon our travels. He has advanced a portion 
of his sledge-load to the west side of the water in Bellot 
Strait, having been obliged to carry it overland for about a 
mile in order to get there. I have explored the route to 
the long lake, and find we can reach it without crossing 
elevated or uncovered land. I saw two reindeer, and Young 
saw about twenty ptarmigan. 

The mean temperature of February up to this date is 
-33 2°, being an exact continuation of January. I confess 
to some anxiety upon this point, as hitherto the winter haa 
been unusually severe, and the journeys to be performed will 
occupy more than twenty days. Besides, we shall be earlier 
in motion than any of the previous travellers, unless we are 
to make an exception in favor of Mr. Kennedy's trip of 30 
miles from Batty Bay to Fury Beach, between the 5th and 
10th of January, daring which time the lowest temperature 
registered was only -25°. Should either Young or myself 
remain absent beyond the period for which w T e carry provi- 
sions, Hobson is to send a party in search of us. A sooty 
fox has been captured lately. 

15th. — A strong 1ST. W. wind, with a temperature of -40°, 
confines us on board. One cannot face these winds, there- 
fore it is fortunate that we did not start, the ship being 
much more comfortable than a snow-hut. 

20th March.- — Already I have been a week on board, and 
so difficult is it to settle down to anything like sedentary 
occupation, after a period of continued vigorous action, that 
even now I can scarcely sit still to scribble a brief outline 
of my trip to Cape "Victoria. 

On the morning of the 17th February the weather mod- 
erated sufficiently for us to set out ; the temperature 
throughout the day varied between -31° and -42-^°. Leav- 
ing Young's party to. pass on through the strait, I pro- 



182 TRAVELLING ROUTINE. Chap. XII. 

ceeded by way of the Long Lake, which. I found to be 10^ 
geographical miles in length, with an average width of half 
a mile. 

We built our snow-hut upon the west coast, near Pem- 
mican Rock, after a march of 19 or 20 geographical miles. 
We always speak of geographical miles with reference to 
our marches ; six geographical are equal to seven -English 
miles. 

On the following day the old N". W. wind sprang up with 
renewed vigor, and the thermometer fell to -48°; the cold 
was therefore intense. 

On the third day our dogs went lame in consequence of 
sore feet; the intense cold seems to be the principal, if not 
the only cause, having hardened the surface-snow beyond 
what their feet can endure. I was obliged to throw off a 
part of the provisions ; still we could not make more than 
12 or 18 miles daily. We of course walked, so that the 
dogs had only the remaining provisions and clothing to 
drag, yet several of them repeatedly fell down in fits. 

For several days this severe weather continued, the mer- 
cury of my artificial horizon remaining frozen (its freezing 
point is -39°) ; and our rum, at first thick like treacle, 
required thawing latterly, when the more fluid and stronger 
part had been used. We travelled each day until dusk, 
and then were occupied for a couple of hours in building 
our snow-hut. The four walls were run up until 5^ feet 
high, inclining inwards as much as possible ; over these our 
tent was laid to form a roof; we could not afford the time 
necessary to construct a dome of snow. 

Our equipment consisted of a very small brown-holland 
tent, mackintosh floor-cloth, and felt robes; besides this, 
each man had a bag of double blanketing, and a pair of fur 
boots, to sleep in. We wore mocassins over the pieces of 
blanket in which our feet were wrapped up, and, with the 
exception of a change of this foot-gear, carried no spare 



Mar. 1S53. TRAVELLING ROUTINE. 183 

clothes. The daily routine was as follows : — I led the way ; 
Petersen and Thompson followed, conducting their sledges ; 
and in this manner we trudged on for eight or ten hours 
without halting, except when necessary to disentangle the 
dog-harness When we halted for the night, Thompson 
and I usually sawed out the blocks of compact snow and 
carried them to Petersen, who acted as the master-mason 
in building the snow-hut : the hour and a half or two 
hours usually employed in erecting the edifice was the most 
disagreeable of the day's labor, for, in addition to being 
already well tired and desiring repose, we became thor- 
oughly chilled whilst standing about. When the hut was 
finished, the dogs were fed, and here the great difficulty 
was to insure the weaker ones their full share in the 
scramble for supper ; then commenced the operation of un- 
packing the sledge, and carrying into our hut everything 
necessary for ourselves, such as provision and sleeping- 
gear, as well as all boots, fur mittens, and even the sledge 
dog-harness to prevent the dogs from eating them during 
our sleeping hours. The door was now blocked up with 
snow, the cooking lamp lighted, foot-gear changed, diary 
written up, watches wound, sleeping bags wriggled into, 
pipes lighted, and the merits of the various dogs discussed, 
until supper was ready ; the supper swallowed, the upper 
robe or coverlet was pulled over, and then to sleep. 

Next morning came breakfast, a struggle to get into 
frozen mocassins, after which the sledges were packed, and 
another day's march commenced. 

In these little huts we usually slept warm enough, although 
latterly, when our blankets and clothes became loaded with 
ice, we felt the cold severely. When our low doorway was 
carefully blocked up with snow, and the cooking-lamp 
alight, the temperature quickly rose so that the walls be- 
came glazed, and our bedding thawed; but the cooking 
■ over, or the doorway partially opened, it as quickly fell 



184 WESTERN SHORES OF BOOTHIA. Chap. XIX 

again, so that it was impossible to sleep, or even to hold 
one's pannikin of tea, without putting our mitts on, so in- 
tense was the cold 1 

On the 21st I visited our main depot laid out last Oc- 
tober ; it was safe, but unfortunately had been carried far 
into Wrottesley Inlet, and only 40 miles south of Bellot 
Strait. 

On the 22d an easterly gale prevented our marching, but 
we had the good fortune to shoot a bear, so consoled our- 
selves with fresh steaks, and the dogs with an ample feed 
of unfrozen flesh — a treat they had not enjoyed for many 
months. 

We coasted along a granitic land, deeply indented and 
fringed with islands, and found it to be the general charac- 
teristic of the Boothian shore from Bellot Strait, until we 
had accomplished half the distance to the magnetic pole ; 
limestone then appeared, and the remainder of our journey 
was performed along a low, straight shore, which afforded 
us much greater facility for sledging. 

Throughout the whole distance we found a mixture of 
heavy old ice and light ice of last autumn, in many places 
squeezed up into pack ; but as we advanced southward aged 
floes were less frequently seen. 

On thefirst of March we halted to encamp ataboutthe posi- 
tion of the magnetic pole — for no cairn remains to mark the 
spot. I had almost concluded that my journey would prove to 
be a work of labor in vain, because hitherto no traces of Es- 
quimaux had been met with, and in consequence of the 
reduced state of our provisions and" the wretched condition 
of the poor dogs — six out of the fifteen being quite useless 
— I could only advance one more march. 

But we had done nothing more than look ahead; when 
we halted, and turned round, great indeed was my surprise 
and joy to see four men walking after us. Petersen and I 
immediately buckled on our revolvers and advanced to meet 



Mar. 1858. INFORMATION FROM ESQUIMAUX. 185 

them. The natives halted, made fast their dogs, laid down 
their spears, and received us without any evidence of sur- 
prise. They told us they had been out upon a seal hunt 
on the ice, and were returning home : we proposed to join 
them, and all were soon in motion again ; but another hour 
brought sunset, and we learned that their snow village of 
eight huts was still a long way off, so wediired them, at the 
rate of a needle for each Esquimax, to build us a hut, which 
they completed in an hour ; it was 8 feet in diameter, 5^ 
feet high, and in it we all passed the night. Perhaps the 
records of architecture do not furnish another instance of 
a dwelling-house so cheaply constructed ! 

"We gave them to understand that we were anxious to 
barter with them, and very cautiously approached the real 
object of our visit. A naval button upon one of theii 
dresses afforded the opportunity ; it came, they said, from 
some white people who were starved upon an island where 
there are salmon (that is, in a river) ; and that the iron of 
which their knives were made came from the same place. 
One of these men said he had been to the island to obtain 
wood and iron, but none of them had seen the white men. 
Another man had been to "Ei-wil-lik" (Repulse Bay), and 
counted on his fingers seven individuals of Rae's party whom 
he remembered having seen.' 

These Esquimaux had nothing to eat, and no other clothing 
than their ordinary double dresses of fur ; they would not 
eat our biscuit or salt pork, but took a small quantity of 
bear's blubber and some water. They slept in a sitting 
posture, with their heads leaning forward on their breasts. 
Next morning we traveled about 10 miles further, by which 
time we were close to Cape Victoria ; beyond this I would 
not go, much as they wished to lead us on ; we therefore 
landed, and they built us a commodious snow hut in half an 
hour ; this done, we displayed to them our articles for barter 
—knives, files, needles, scissors, beads, etc. — expressed our 



186 BARTER WITH NATIVES. Chap. XII. 

desire to trade with them, and promised to purchase every 
thing which belonged to the starved white men, if they 
would come to us on the morrow. Notwithstanding that 
the weather was now stormy and bitterly cold, two of the 
natives stripped off their outer coats of reindeer skin and 
bartered them for a knife each. 

Despite the gale which howled outside, we spent a com- 
fortable night in our roomy hut. 

Next morning the entire village population arrived, 
amounting to about forty-five souls, from aged people to in- 
fants in arms, and bartering commenced very briskly. First 
of all we purchased all the relics of the lost expedition, con- 
sisting of six silver spoons and forks, a silver medal, the 
property of Mr. A. M'Donald, assistant surgeon, part of a 
gold chain, several buttons, and knives made of the iron and 
wood of the wreck, also bows and arrows constructed of 
materials obtained from the same source. Having secured 
these, we purchased a few frozen salmon, some seals' blub- 
ber and venison, but could not prevail upon them to part 
with more than one of their fine dogs. One of their sledges 
was made of two stout pieces of wood, which might have 
been a boat's keel. 

All the old people recollected the visit of the 'Victory.' 
An old man told me his name was " Ooblooria :" I recollect- 
ed that Sir James Ross had employed a man of that name 
as a guide, and reminded him of it ; he was, in fact, the 
same individual, and he inquired after Sir James by his 
Esquimaux name of "Agglugga." 

I inquired after the man who was furnished with a wooden 
leg by the carpenter of the ' Victory :' no direct answer was 
given, but his daughter was pointed out to me. Petersen 
explained to me that they do not like alluding in any way to 
the dead, and that, as my question was not answered, it was 
certain the man was no longer amongst the living. 

None of these people had seen the whites ; one man said 



Mae. 1859. EAE'S STATEMENT CONFIRMED. 187 

lie had seen their bones upon the island where they died, but 
some were buried. Petersen also understood him to say 
that the boat was crushed by the ice. Almost all of them 
had part of the plunder ; they say they will be here when 
we return, and will trade more with us ; also that we shall 
find natives upon Montreal Island at the time of our arriving 
there. 

Next morning, 4th March, several natives came to us 
again. I bought a spear 6^ feet long from a man who told 
Petersen distinctly that a ship having three masts had been 
crushed by the ice out in the sea to the west of King Wil- 
liam's Island, but that all the people landed safely ; he was 
not one of those who were eye witnesses of it; the ship 
sunk, so nothing was obtained by the natives from her ; all 
that they have got, he said, came from the island in the 
river. The spear staff appears to have been part of the 
gunwale of a light boat. One old man, "Oo-na-lee,"made 
a rough sketch of the coast-line with his spear upon the 
snow, and said it was eight journeys to where the ship sank, 
pointing in the direction of Cape Felix. I can make noth- 
ing out of his rude chart. 

The information we obtained bears out the principal 
statements of Dr. Rae, and also accounts for the disappear- 
ance of one of the ships ; but it gives no clue to the where- 
abouts of the other, nor the direction whence the ships came. 
One thing is tolerably certain — the crews did not at any 
time land upon the Boothian shore. 

These Esquimaux were all well clothed in reindeer 
dresses, and looked clean ; they appeared to have abun- 
dance of provisions, but scarcely a scrap of wood was seen 
amongst them which had not come from the lost expedition. 
Their sledges, with the exception of the one already spoken 
of, were wretched little affairs, consisting of two frozen rolls 
of seal-skins coated with ice, and attached to each other by 
bones, whicn served as the crossbars. The men were stout, 



188 RETURN TO THE 'FOX.' CirAr XIL 

hearty fellows, and the women arrant thieves, but all were 
good-humored and friendly. The women were decidedly 
plain ; in fact, this term would have been flattering to most 
of them ; yet there was a degree of vivacity and gentleness 
in the manners of some that soon reconciled us to these 
Arctic specimens of the fair sex. They had fine eyes and 
teeth, as well as very small hands, and the young girls had 
a fresh rosy hue not often seen in combination with olive 
complexions. 

Esquimaux mothers carry their infants on their backs 
within their large fur dresses, and where the babes can only 
be got at by pulling them out over the shoulder. Whilst 
intent upon my bargaining for silver spoons and forks be- 
longing to Franklin's expedition, at the rate of a few nee- 
dles or a knife for each relic, one pertinacious old dame, 
after having obtained all she was likely to get from me for 
herself, pulled out her infant by the arm, and quietly held 
the poor little creature (for it was perfectly naked) before 
me in the breeze, the temperature at the time being 60° 
below freezing point ! Petersen informed me that she was 
begging for a needle for her child. I need not say I gave 
it one as expeditiously as possible; yet sufficient time 
elapsed before the infant was again put out of sight to 
alarm me considerably for its safety in such a temperature. 
The natives, however, seemed to think nothing of what 
looked to me like cruel exposure of a naked baby. 

We now returned to the ship with all the speed we could 
command ; but stormy weather occasioned two days' delay, 
so that we did not. arrive on board until the 14th March. 
Though considerably reduced in flesh, I and my companions 
were in excellent health, and blessed with insatiable appe- 
tites. On washing our faces, which had become perfectly 
black from the soot of our blubber lamp, sundry scars, 
relics of frost-bit.es, appeared ; and the tips of our fingers, 



Mab. 1859. ARCTIC FARE. 189 

from constant frost-bites, had become as callous as if seared 
with hot iron. 

In this journey of twenty-five days we traveled 360 geo- 
graphical miles (420 English), and completed the discovery 
of the coast-line of continental America, thereby adding 
about 120 miles to our charts. The mean temperature 
throughout the journey was 30° below zero of Fahrenheit, 
or 62° below the freezing point of water. 

On reaching the ship, I at once assembled my small crew, 
and told them of the information we had obtained, pointing 
out that there still remained one of the ships unaccounted 
for, and therefore it was necessary to carry out all our pro- 
jected lines of search. 

During this journey I acquired the Arctic accomplish- 
ment of eating frozen blubber, in delicate little slices, and 
vastly preferred it to frozen pork. At the present moment 
I do not think I could even taste it, but the same privation 
and hunger which induced me to eat of such food would 
doubtless enable me again to partake of it very kindly. 

I shot a couple of foxes which came playing about the 
dogs ; conscious of their superior speed, they were very im- 
pudent, snapping at the dogs' tails, and passing almost 
under their noses. I shot these foxes, intending to eat 
them ; but the dogs anticipated me with respect to one ; 
the other we feasted off at our mess-table, and thought it 
by no means bad ; it was insipid, but decidedly better to 
our taste than preserved meat. 

Captain Allen Young and his party had returned on 
board on the 3rd of March, having placed their depot upon 
the shore of Prince of Wales' Land, about 70 miles S. W. 
of the ship. Young found the ice in Bellot Strait so rough 
as to be impassable, and was obliged to adopt the lake 
route. Prince of Wales' Land was found to be composed 
of limestone ; the shore was low, and fringed for a distance 
of ten miles to seaward with an ancient land-floe. The 



190 SUGAR MISSING. Chap. XII. 

remaining width of the strait between this land (North 
Somerset) and Prince of Wales' Land was about 15 miles, 
and this space was composed of ice formed since Septem- 
ber last 5 this was the water we looked at so anxiously last 
autumn from Cape Bird and Pemmican Rock. His party 
lived in their tent, protected from the wind by snow walls, 
and, like ourselves, escaped with a few trivial frost-bites. So 
far all was very satisfactory, the general health good, and 
the eagerness of my crew to commence traveling quite 
charming. 

Young proposed carrying out another depot to the north- 
west, in order to explore well up Peel Strait, and would 
have started on the lTth, but the weather was too severe. 
The day was spent in a fruitless search for three casks of 
sugar — a serious and unaccountable deficiency — but, as it 
was important to replace them with as little delay as possi- 
ble, Young set off on the 18th, although it blew a ~N. W. 
gale at the time, with two men and eighteen dogs, for Fury 
Beach ; failing to find the requisite quantity there, he will 
go on to Port Leopold. 



Mab. 1850, DR. WALKER'S SLEDGE JOURNEY. igi 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Dr. Walker's sledge journey — Snow-blindness attacks Young's party — ■ 
Departure of all sledge-parties — Equipment of sledge-parties — Meet 
the same party of natives — Intelligence of the second ship — My depot 
robbed — Part company from Hobson — Matty Island — Deserted snow- 
huts — Native sledges — Land on King William's Land. 

Doctor Walker's zeal for traveling was not to be re- 
strained ; I therefore gladly availed myself of his willingness 
to go with a party to Cape Airey and bring back the depot 
of provisions left there in August last. These trips will 
delay our spring journeys for a few days. 

During my absence from the 'Fox' the weather was often 
stormy, and temperature unusually low ; the mean for the 
month of February was -36°, showing it to be one of the 
coldest on record. When possible the men were allowed to 
go out shooting, and obtain fifty or sixty ptarmigan and % 
hare : a few foxes were taken in traps, and two reindeer 
were seen. 

Yesterday two bears came near the ship, but were fright 
ened away by the dogs. Hobson shot three ptarmigan. 
To-day I rambled over the hills, the weather being fine, and 
saw a hare. 

29$. — Continued fine weather. A couple more foxes 
and a lemming in its brown coat have been captured, and a 
hare and four ptarmigan shot. This fine bright weather 
seems to have awakened the lemmings and ermines ; their 
tracks, which were very rarely seen during the winter, aro 
now tolerably numerous; foxes appear in greater numbers, 



192 RETURN OF CAPTAIN YOUNG. Chap. XIIL 

probably following up the ptarmigan from the south ; the 
thermometer ranges between zero and -20°; it has once 
been up to — |— 13°. When exposed to a noonday sun against 
the ship's side it rises 50° higher. The earth-thermometer 
— placed 2 feet 2 inches beneath the surface — which gradu- 
ally fell until the 10th of -this month, has now begun to 
ascend ; its minimum was -f-^° ; much snow also lay over 
it, 6 feet deep at this season. . 

On the 25th Dr. Walker and his party returned, not 
being able to find the depot. They found a barrel of flour 
upon the beach a few miles south of Brentford Bay ; it ap- 
peared to have lain there for years, just inside a shingle 
projection, which kept off the ice pressure, so that it had 
not been forced up high upon the beach ; the ice which bore 
it there — probably from Port Leopold — had disappeared, 
and the cask was frozen in the shingle. The heading has 
been brought on board, but the "scribing" upon it is very 
indistinct, and unintelligible to us. The flour is of the 
ordinary description used in the navy, and known as " sec- 
onds ; most of it was, good, and plain pudding made of it 
for our mess could not be distinguished from fresh flour. A 
specimen has been preserved with a view of identifying it 
with the Fury Beach or Port Leopold stores of flour. With 
the exception of a solitary bear, the party saw no living 
creatures. The shore along which they traveled was a very 
low, shingly limestone. 

Last evening I was delighted to see Young and his two 
dog-sledges heave in sight; he brought about 8 cwt. of 
sugar from Fury Beach, but not without much difficulty, 
owing to the roughness of the pack in Creswell Bay, and 
also to the breaking down of one of his sledges ; to avoid 
this pack he found it necessary to travel nearly all round 
Creswell Bay. Cape Garry he describes as a gradually 
curved extent of flat land, and not the decided cape it ap- 
pears to be upon the chart ; two reindeer were seen near 



Mar. 1859. SNOW BLINDNESS. 193 

it, and during the journey four bears; no other animals 
were met with. His labors had been very severe ; one 
sledge broke down and all the sugar had to be piled upon 
the other : the consequence was that the sledge was so 
heavily loaded that it would only run freely after the dogs 
on smooth ice ; and directly any hummocks were encoun- 
tered, the dogs, with their usual instinct, not to drag a 
sledge unless it does run freely, would lie down, and obligg 
Captain Young and his two men to unload and carry 
the packages over the obstacle, upon their own backs. 
After this, snow-blindness came on; Young and one of his 
men became blind as kittens ; and the third man had to 
load, lead, and unload them, when these portages occurred. 
Young's Esquimaux dog-driver, Samuel, was quite blind 
when the party reached the ship. Two dogs, not choosing 
to allow themselves to be caught and put. in harness, had 
been still left behind at the last encampment. 

There still remains at Fury Beach an immense stack of 
preserved vegetables and soups ; the party supped off them 
and found them good. Young brought me back two speci- 
men tins of "carrots plain" and "carrots and gravy." All 
small casks and packages were covered with snow ; of the 
large ones which appeared through it, he saw thirty-four 
casks of flour, five of split peas, five of tobacco, and four 
of sugar. Only a very few tons of coals remained. There 
were two boats, a short four-oared gig and a large cutter; 
The former required nothing but caulking to make her 
serviceable, but the latter had a large portion of one bow 
and side cut out, as if for makiug or repairing flat sledges. 
No record was found. 

We have now enough sugar to last us for seven or eight 
months, but by the survey of provisions which has just been 
completed, we find a deficiency of many other articles, 
including three casks of salt beef. Fortunately this is of 
no consequence as we have abundance of both salt and 
13 



194 PREPARATIONS FOE, THE START. Chap. XIII. 

preserved meat, but it shows the alarming extent to which 
a negligent Steward may lead one. - This unfortunate man 
has now got scurvy ; want of exercise and fresh air is the 
apparent cause, combined with irregular living ; the spirits 
have hitherto been in his charge. 

The bustle of preparation for the extended searching 
journeys has been exciting. Hobson's party and my own 
are now all prepared, and Young having returned, we pro- 
pose setting out on the 2d April — God willing. Young's 
new sledge will be ready, and he will also start a few days 
after us. All our winter defences of snow, our porches, 
our deck-layer, and our external embankment, have been 
removed. Dr. Walker, of necessity, remains in charge of 
the ship, with two stewards, a cook, a carpenter, and a 
stoker. My party, as well as Hobson's, will be provisioned, 
including the depots, for an absence of about eighty-four 
days ; but not being able to afford auxiliary or supporting 
sledge-parties, much time will be occupied in transporting 
our depots further out, in order that we may start with as 
much as we can possibly carry, from the Magnetic Pole, 
besides leaving there a depot for our return. 

The declinometer was taken on board two days ago ; 
hourly observations have been made with it for more than 
five months : we can no longer spare any one for this inter- 
esting duty. 

24<A June. — One thing is certain, the wild sort of tent- 
life we lead in Arctic exploration quite unfits one for such 
tame work as writing up a journal ; my present attempt 
will illustrate the fact, — yet with such ample materials what 
a deeply interesting volume might be written I Since I last 
opened this familiar old diary — the repository alike of dry 
facts and the most trivial notes — winter has passed away, 
summer is far advanced, and the glorious sun is again re- 



Apr. 1859. -THE START. 195 

taming southward. We too have endeavored to more on 
with the times and seasons. 

As for myself — I have visited Montreal Island, completed 
the exploration and circuit of King William's Island, pass- 
ing on foot through the only feasible North-West Passage ; 
but all this is as nothing to the interest attached to the 
Franklin records picked up by Hobson, and now safe in 
my possession ! We now know the fate of the 'Erebus' and 
'Terror.' The sole object of our voyage has at length been 
completed, ancTwe anxiously await the time when escape 
from these bleak regions will become practicable. 



The morning of April 2nd was inauspicious, but as the 
day advanced the weather improved, so that Hobson and I 
were able to set out upon our journeys ; we each had a 
sledge drawn by four men, besides a dog-sledge and dog- 
driver. Mr. Petersen having volunteered his services to 
drive my dogs, — an offer too valuable to be declined, — 
managed my dog-sledge throughout. Our five starveling 
puppies were harnessed, for the first time in their lives, to a 
small sledge which I drove myself, intending to sell them to 
the Esquimaux, if I could get them to drag their own sup- 
ply of provisions so far. The procession looked imposing 
— it certainly was deeply interesting ; there were five 
sledges, twelve men, and seventeen dogs, the latter of all 
sizes and shapes. The ship hoisted the Royal Harwich 
Yacht flag, and our sledges displayed their gay silk ban- 
ners ; mine was a very beautiful one, given me by Lady 
Franklin ; it bears her name in white letters upon a red 
ground, and is margined with white embroidery; it was 
worked by the sisters of Captain Collinson. 

The equipment of my sledge-party and the weights were 
as follows : those of Hobson and Young were almost pre- 
cisely similar. 



196 EQUIPMENT. Chap. XIII. 

lbs. weight. 

Two sledges and fitting complete , 110 

Tent, waterproof blanket, floorcloth, two sleeping-robes, 

and six blanket sleeping-bags , 90 

Cooking-utensils, shovel, saw, snow-knife, and sundry small 

articles 40 

Sledge-gun and ammunition , 20 

Magnetic and astronomical instruments 60 

Six knapsacks, containing spare clothing 60 

Various tins and bags, in which provision and fuel were 

stored 50 

Articles for barter 40 

Provisions ..., 930 

Total v 1400 

The load for each man to drag was fixed at 200 lbs., and 
for each dog 100 lbs. Our provisions consisted mainly of 
pemmican, biscuit, and tea, with a small addition of boiled 
pork, rum, and some tobacco. 

The men being untrained to the work, and sledges 
Leavily laden, our march was fatiguing and slow. We 
encamped that night upon the long lake. On the second 
day we reached the western sea, and upon the third, aided 
foy our sledge-sails, we advanced some miles beyond Arce- 
deckne Island. 

The various depots carried out with so much difficulty 
and danger in the autumn, were now gathered up as we 
advanced, until at length we were so loaded as to be com- 
pelled to proceed with one-half at a time, going three times 
over the same ground. For six days this tedious mode of 
progression was persevered in, by which time (15th April) 
we reached the low limestone shore in latitude 11° 1'N., 
and which continues thence in almost a straight line south- 
ward for 60 or TO miles. We now commenced laying down 
provisions for our consumption upon the return journey ; 
and the snow being unusually level, we were able to advance 
with the whole of our remaining provisions, amounting to 
nearly sixty days' allowance. 



Ape. 1859. 



FORM OF SNOW HUTS. 



197 



Hitherto the temperature continued low, often nearly 30° 
below zero, and at times with cutting north winds, bright 
sun, and intensely strong snow glare. Although we wore 
colored spectacles, yet almost all suffered great inconve- 
nience and considerable pain from inflamed eyes. Our 
faces were blistered, lips and hands cracked,. — never were 
men more disfigured by the combined effects of bright sun 
and bitterly cold winds ; fortunately no serious frost-bites 
occurred, but frost-bitten faces and fingers were universal. 

On the 20th April, in latitude 10^-° IS"., we met two fami- 
lies of natives, comprising twelve individuals ; their snow- 
huts were upon the ice three-quarters of a mile off shore, 
and their occupation was seal-hunting. They were the 
same people with whom I had communicated at Cape Vic- 
toria in February. 

Old Oo-na-lee laid his hands on Petersen's shoulders to 
measure their width, and said, "He is fatter now:" true 
enough, the February temperature and sharp marching had 
caused us both at that time to shrink considerably. 




Their snow-huts were built in the above form, the com- 
mon entrance and both passages being just sufficiently high 
to get in without having to crawl upon our hands and 
knees. A slab of ice in the roof admitted sufficient light. 
A snow bank or bench two feet high, and occupying half 



198 BARTER WITH NATIVES. Chap. XIIL 

the area of each hut, was covered with reindeer skins, and 
formed the family place of repose. An angular snow bench 
served as the kitchen table, and immediately beside it sat 
the lady of the establishment attending the stone lamp 
which stood thereon, and the stone-cooking vessel suspended 
over it. The lamp was a shallow open vessel, the fuel seal 
oil, and the wick dried moss. Her " tinder-box " was a 
little seal-skin bag of soft dry moss, and with a lump of iron 
pyrites and a broken file she struck fire upon it. I pui'- 
chased the file because it was marked with the Government 
broad arrow. 

We saw two large snow shovels made of mahogany board, 
some long spear handles, a bow of English wood, two pre- 
served-meat tins, and a deal case which might have once 
contained a large telescope or a barometer; it measured 3 
feet 1 inch in length by 9 inches wide and 3j inches deep ; 
there was no lid, but part of the brass hinges remained. 

I also purchased a knife which had some indistinct mark- 
ings upon it, such as ship's cutlasses or swords usually have; 
the man told us it had been picked up on the shore near 
where a ship lay stranded ; that it was then about the 
length of his arm, but his countryman who picked it up 
broke ifc into lengths to make knives. 

After much anxious inquiry we learned that two ships 
had beeu seen by the natives of King William's Island ; one 
of them was seen to sink in deep water, and nothing was 
obtained from her, a circumstance at which they expressed 
much regret ; but the other was forced on shore by the ice, 
where they suppose she still remains, but is much broken. 
From this ship they have obtained most of their wood, &c. ; 
and Oot-loo-lik is the name of the place where she grounded. 

Formerly many natives lived there, now very few remain. 
All the natives have obtained plenty of the wood. 

The most of this information was given us by the young 
jjoaan who sold the knife. Old Oo-na-lee, who drew the 



Apr. 1859. INTELLIGENCE OF SECOND SHIP. 199 

rough chart for me in March, to show where the ship sank, 
now answered our questions respecting the one forced on 
shore ; not a syllable about her did he mention on the 
former occasion, although we asked whether they knew of 
only one ship ? I think he would willingly have kept us in 
ignorance of the wreck being upon their coasts, and that 
the young man unwittingly made it known to us. 

The latter also told us that the body of a man was found 
on board the ship ; that he must have been a very large 
man, and had long teeth ; this is all he recollected having 
been told, for he was quite a child at the time. 

They both told us it was in the fall of the year — that is, 
August or September — when the ships were destroyed; 
that all the white people went away to the " large river," 
taking a boat or boats with them, and that in the following 
winter their bones were found there. 

These two Esquimaux families had been up as far north 
as the Tasmania Group* in latitude tl^ N., and were 
returning to Neitchillee, hunting seals by the way ; those 
we met at Cape Victoria had already gone there. The 
nearest natives to us at present, they said, were residing at 
the island of Amitoke, ten days' journey distant from here. 
Can this Amitoke be Matty Island ? 

We purchased some seal's blubber and flesh, as well as 
their two only dogs ; but next morning Oo-na-lee repented 
his bargain, or feigned to do so, but as he came without the 
knife to exchange back we retained his dog ; he tried to 
steal a tin vessel off one of the sledges, and perhaps it was 
for the purpose of regaining our favor that he made known 
to us, just as we were starting, that his countrymen had fol- 

* These islands were so named by me at the request of Lady Franklin^ 
in grateful acknowledgment of many proofs of affectionate sympathy re- 
ceived from the colony over which her husband presided for several years, 
and, in particular, of the large contributions raised there in aid of her 
expeditions of search. 



200 DEPOT BOBBED. Chap. XIII. 

lowed my homeward track in March, discovering my depot 
of blubber, articles for barter, and two revolvers, and car- 
ried them all off to Neitchillee — by no means pleasant 
intelligence ; their dogs must have enabled them to find the 
blubber by scenting it, for it was buried under 4 feet of 
snow, and strong winds obliterated all traces upon the 
surface. 

I was now glad we had purchased both the dogs of the 
men, as it would probably prevent their seeking for our 
depots to the northward ; the knowledge of the inse- 
curity of all depots amongst these people will keep us on 
our guard for the future. I regretted the loss of the pis- 
tols, as it left my party with no other arms than two guns. 

Oo-na-lee told us when we first met him that one of his 
countrymen was very sick ; not seeing a sick man in theii 
huts, we forgot all about it until after starting, when Peter- 
sen interpreted to me Oo-na-lee's parting information, and 
told me how he described that the breach of the revolver 
turned round ; it then occurred to me that one of the men 
might have been wounded, — they had discovered how to 
cock the locks, and the pistols were loaded and capped. 

Oo-na-lee was well acquainted with the coast-line up to 
Bellot Strait, and had names for the different headlands, 
although he had never been so far north ; he made many in- 
quiries about the position of our ship, her size, and the 
number of men. Had he been able to travel so far with 
his wife and several young children, and without sledge or 
dogs, I think he certainly would have gone up to Port Ken- 
nedy : we did not give him any encouragement to do so. 
His wife was one of the most importunate of the many wo- 
men we- saw at Cape Victoria in March. She was the 
woman who plucked out an infant by its arm from inside 
her dress, and exposed it regardless of -30° and a fresh 
wind, as I have previously told. 

The information respecting both the missing ships, was 




DOG SLEDUK OR SCOL'T I'ARTY 




INTERIOR OP TIIK OBSERVATORY. 
Drawn by Captain May. 



Apr. 1859. PART COMPANY FROM HOBSON. 



most important, and it remained for us to discover, if possi- 
ble, the stranded ship. 

Continuing our journey, we crossed a wide bay upon level 
ice, and the most perfectly smooth hard snow I ever saw ; 
there must have been much open water here late last 
autumn. Seven or eight snow huts, recently abandoned, 
were found near the magnetic pole. During the 25th, 26th, 
and 27th, we were confined to our tents by a very heavy 
south-east gale, with severe cold. Early on the 28th we 
reached Gape "Victoria ; here Hobson and I separated. He 
marched direct for Cape Felix, King William's Land, whilst 
I kept a more southerly course. Not daring to leave depots 
upon this coast, we carried on our whole supply, intending 
to deposit a small portion upon the Clarence Islands. 

Hobson was unwell when we parted, complaining of stiff- 
ness and pain in the legs ; neither of us then suspected the 
cause. I gave him directions to search the west coast of King 
William's Island for the stranded ship and for records, and 
to act upon such information as he might obtain in this way, 
or from the natives ; but should that shore prove destitute 
of traces, to carry out, if possible, our original plan for the 
completion of discovery and search upon "Victoria Land, 
comprising the blank space between the extremes visited by 
Captain Collinson and Mr. Wynniatt. 

I soon found that my party had to labor across a rough 
pack ; nor was it until the third day that we completed the tra- 
verse of the strait, and encamped near to the entrance of Port 
Parry, in King William's Island. Although the weather was 
clear, and that by our reckoning we passed directly over 
the assigned position of the two southern of the Clarence 
Islands, yet we saw nothing of them. 

A day was devoted to securing a depot in a huge mass of 
grounded ice, and in repairing and drying equipments, or, to 
speak more correctly, in getting rid of the ice which encum- 
bered our sleeping bags and gear ; this we effected by beat- 



2C 
in 



02 NATIVE SLEDGES. Chap. XIII. 



g them well and exposing them to the direct rays of the 
sun. Magnetic and other observations gave me ample em- 
ployment, the only immediate result of which was my being 
almost snow-blind for the two following days. 

On May 2nd we set off again briskly ; our load being di- 
minished to thirty days' provisions, and the sledge sail set, 
we soon reached the land, and travelled along it for Cape 
Sabine ; it was very thick weather, and we were unable to 
see any distance in consequence of the mist and snow-drift. 
The foljpwing day was no better, and the shore, which we 
dared not leave to cross the bays, was extremely low. 

We soon discovered that we had strayed inland ; but, 
guided by the wind, continued our course. Upon May 4th 
we descended into Wellington Strait, and the weather being 
tolerably clear, crossed over to the south-west extreme of 
Matty Island, in the hope of meeting with natives, no traces 
of them having been met with since leaving Cape Victoria. 
Off this south-west point we found a deserted village of 
nearly twenty snow-huts, besides several others, within a 
few miles upon either side of it ; in all of them I found 
shavings or chips of different kinds of wood from the lost 
expedition ; they appeared to have been abandoned only 
within a fortnight or three weeks. Abundance of blubber 
was gathered up to increase our stock of fuel, and had we 
encamped here, the clogs would have feasted sumptuously 
off the scraps and bones of seals strewed about. 

The runners (or sides) of some old sledges left here were 
very ingeniously formed out of rolls of seal-skin, about 3^ 
feet long, and flattened so as to be 2 or 3 inches wide and 5 
inches high ; the seal-skins appeared to have been well soaked 
and then rolled up, flattened into the required form and al- 



Ape. 1859. NATIVE HUTS. 203 

lowed to freeze. The underneath part was coated with a 
mixture of moss and ice laid smoothly on by hand before 
being allowed to freeze ; the moss, I suppose, answering the 
purpose of hair in mortar, to make the compound adhere 
more firmly. 

From this spot the shore-line of Matty Island turned 
sharply to the N". N. E. ; there were some considerable is- 
lands to the east, but thinking the most southerly of this 
group, named " Owut-ta" by the Esquimaux, the most likely 
place to find the natives, I pushed on in that direction until 
we encamped. Thick fog enveloped us for the next two 
days ; we could not find the island, but found a very small 
islet near it, off which was another snow-village very re- 
cently abandoned, the sledge tracks plainly showing that 
the inhabitants had gone to the E. N. E., which is straight 
for Neitchillee. It was now evident that these places of 
winter resort were deserted, and that here at least we should 
not find any natives ; I was the more sorry at having missed 
them, as, from the quantity of wood chips about the huts, 
they probably had visited the stranded ship alluded to by 
the last Esquimaux we had met, and the route to which lies 
up an inlet visible from here, and then overland three or 
four days' journey to the westward, until the opposite coast 
of King William's Land is reached. 

The largest huts measured 12 feet in diameter, by 6 or T 
feet high ; the greater part were constructed in pairs, having 
a passage 20 or 25 feet long, serving as the common en- 
trance ; where the passage divides into two branches, there 
was a small hut, which served as a sort of ante-chamber for 
the reception of such articles as were intended to remain 
frozen.. 



204 MEE ^ ESQUIMAUX. Chap. XIV. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Meet Esquimaux — News of Franklin's people — Frighten a solitary party 
— Reach the Great Fish River — On Montreal Island — Total absence of 
all relics — Examine Ogle Peninsula — Discover a skeleton — Vagueness 
of Esquimaux information — Cape Herschel — Cairn. 

1th May. — To avoid snow-blindness, we commenced night- 
marching. Crossing over from Matty Island towards the 
King William Island shore, we continued our march south- 
ward until midnight, when we had the good fortune to arrive 
at an inhabited snow-village. We found here ten or twelve 
huts and thirty or forty natives of King William's Island ; 
I do not think any of them had ever seen white people alive 
before, but they evidently knew us to be friends. We halted 
at a little distance, and pitched our tent, the better to se- 
cure small articles from being stolen whilst we bartered with 
them. 

I purchased from them six pieces of silver plate, bearing 
the crests or initials of Franklin, Crozier, Fairholme, and 
McDonald ; they also sold us bows and arrows of English 
woods, uniform and other buttons, and offered us a heavy 
sledge made of two short stout pieces of curved wood, which 
no mere boat could have furnished them with, but this of 
course we could not take away ; the silver spoons and forks 
were readily sold for four needles each. 

They were most obliging and peaceably disposed, but 
could not resist the temptation to steal, and were importu- 
nate to barter every thing they possessed ; there was not a 
trace of fear, every countenance was lighted up with joy ; 
even the children were not shy, nor backward either, iu 



Mat, 1859. PURCHASE OF RELICS. 205 

crowding about us, and poking in everywhere. One man 
got hold of our saw, and tried to retain it, holding it be- 
hind his back, and presenting his knife in exchange ; we 
might have had some trouble in getting it from him, had not 
one of my men mistaken his object in presenting the knife 
towards me, and run out of the tent with a gun in his hand ; 
the saw was instantly returned, and these poor people 
seemed to think they never could do enough to convince us 
of their friendliness ; they repeatedly tapped me gently on 
the breast, repeating the words " Kammik toome" (We are 
friends). 

Having obtained all the relics they possessed, I purchased 
some seal's flesh, blubber, frozen venison, dried and frozen 
salmon, and sold some of my puppies. They told us it was 
five days' journey to the wreck, — one day up the inlet still 
in sight, and four days overland ; this would carry them to 
the western coast of King William's Land ; they added that 
but little now remained of the wreck which was accessible, 
their countrymen having carried almost every thing away. 
In answer to an inquiry, they said she was without masts ; 
the question gave rise to some laughter amongst them, and 
they spoke to each other about fire, from which Petersen 
thought they had burnt the masts through close to the deck 
in order to get them down. 

There had been many books they said, but all have long 
ago been destroyed by the weather; the ship was forced 
on shore in the fall of the year by the ice. She had not 
been visited during the past winter, and an old woman and 
a boy were shown to us who were the last to visit the 
wreck ; they said they had been at it during the winter of 
185T-8. 

Petersen questioned the woman closely, and she seemed 
anxious to give all the information in her power. She said 
many of the white men dropped by the way as they went to 
the Great River ; that some were buried and some were not ; 



206 JOUKNEY CONTINUED. Chap. XIV. 

they did not themselves witness this, but discovered their 
bodies during the winter following. 

We could not arrive at any approximation to the num- 
bers of the white men nor of the years elapsed since they 
were lost. 

This was all the information we could obtain, and it was 
with great difficulty so much could be gleaned, the dialect 
being strange to Petersen, and the natives far more inclined 
to ask questions than to answer them. They assured us we 
should find natives upon the south shore of King William's 
Island only three days' journey from here, and also at Mon- 
treal Island ; moreover they said we might find some at the 
wreck. For these reasons I did not prolong my stay with 
them beyond a couple of hours. They seemed to have but 
little intercourse with other communities, not having heard 
of our visit to the Boothians two montfis before ; one man 
even asked Petersen if he had seen his brother, who lived in 
Boothia, not having heard of him since last summer. 

It was quite a relief to get away from these good-humored, 
noisy thieves, and rather difficult too, as some of them ac- 
companied us for miles. They had abundance of food, 
were well clothed, and are a finer race than those who 
inhabit North Greenland, or Pond's Inlet : the men had 
their hair cropped short, with the exception of one long, 
straggling lock hanging down on each side of the face ; like 
the Boothians, the women had lines tattooed upon their 
cheeks and chins. 

We now proceeded round a bay which I named Latrobe 
in honor of the late Governor of Yictoria, and of his brother, 
tb.3 head of the Moravian Church in London, both esteemed 
friends of Franklin. 

Finding the " Mathison Island" of Rae to be a flat- 
topped hill, we crossed over low land to the west of it, and 
npon the morning of the 10th May reached a single snow 
hut off Point Booth. I was quite astonished at the number 



May, 1S59. FRIGHTEN A SOLITARY TARTY. 20T 

of poles and various articles of wood lying about it, also at 
the huge pile of walrus' and reindeer's flesh, seal's blubber, 
and skins of various sorts. We had abundance of leisure 
to examine these exterior articles before the inmates would 
venture out ; they were evidently much alarmed by our sud- 
den appearance. 

A remarkably fine old dog was tied at the entrance — the 
line being made fast within the long passage — and although 
he wagged his tail, and received us as old acquaintances, we 
did not like to attempt an entrance. At length an old man 
and an old woman appeared ; they trembled with fear, and 
could not, or would not, say any thing except " Kammik 
toomee :" we tried every means of allaying their fears, but 
their wits seemed paralyzed, and we could get no informa- 
tion. We asked where they got the wood ? They pur- 
chased it from their countrymen. Did they know the Great 
River ? Yes, but it was a long way off. Were there natives 
there now ? Yes. They even denied all knowledge of white 
people having died upon their shores. A fine young man 
came out of the hut, but we could learn nothing of him ; 
they said they had nothing to barter, except what we saw, 
although we tempted them by displaying our store of knives 
and needles. 

The wind was strong and fair, and the lnoraing intensely 
cold, and as I could not hope to overcome the fears of these 
poor people without encamping, and staying perhaps a day 
with them, I determined to push on, and presented the old 
lady with a needle as a parting gift. 

The principal articles which caught my attention here 
were eight or ten fir poles, varying in length from 5 to 10 
feet, and up to 2^ inches in diameter (these were converted 
into spear handles and tent poles), a kayak paddle con- 
structed out of the blade of two ash oars, and two large 
snow shovels 4 feet long, made of thin plank, painted white 



208 MONTREAL ISLAND. Chap. XIV 

or pale yellow ; these might have been the bottom boards 
of a boat. There were many smaller articles of wood, 

Half a mile farther on we found seven or eight deserted 
snow huts. Bad weather had now fairly set in, accompanied 
by a most unseasonable degree of cold. On the morning 
of the 12th May we crossed Point Ogle, and encamped 
upon the ice in the Great Fish River the same evening ; the 
cold and the darkness of our more southern latitude, having 
obliged us to return to day-traveling. All the 13th we 
were imprisoned in our tent by a most furious gale, nor was 
it until late on the morning of the 14th that we could pro- 
ceed ; that evening we encamped 2 miles from some small 
Islands which lie off the north end of Montreal Island. 

On the morning of the 15th we made only a short march 
of 6 miles, as one of the men suffered severely from snow- 
blindness, and I was anxious to recommence night-trav- 
elling ; encamped in a little bay upon the N". E. side of 
Montreal Island. The same" evening we again set out, al- 
though it was blowing very strongly, and "snowing for a 
wager," as the men expressed it, but it was only necessary 
for us to keep close along the shore of the island : we dis- 
covered, however, a narrow and crooked channel which led 
us through to the west side of the island, and, one of the 
men appearing seriously ill, we encamped about midnight. 

Whilst encamped this day, explorations were made about 
the IS". E. quarter of the island ; islets and rocks were seen 
to abound in all directions ; eventually it proved to be a 
separate island upon which we had encamped. The only 
traces or relics of Europeans found were the following arti- 
cles, discovered by Petersen, beside a native mark (one large 
stone set upright on the top of another), at the east side of 
the Main — or Montreal Island : — A piece of preserved meat 
tin, two pieces of iron hoop, some scraps of copper, and an 
iron-hoop bolt. These probably are part of the plunder 
obtained from the boat, and were left here until a more fa- 



May, 1859. SEARCH FOR RELICS. 209 

vorable opportunity should offer, or perhaps necessity should 
compel the depositor to return for them. 

All the 16th Ave were unable to move, not only because 
Hampton was ill, but the weather was extremely bad, and 
slow thickly falling with temperature at zero ; certainly 
strange weather for the middle of May ! We have not had 
a single clear day since the 1st of the month. 

On the lTth the weather, though dull, was clear, so Mr. 
Petersen, Thompson, and I, set off with the dog-sledge to 
complete the examination of Montreal Island, leaving the 
other three men with the tent : we hoped also to find natives, 
but had not seen any recent traces of them since passing 
Point Booth. Petersen drove the dog-sledge close along, 
shore round the island to the south, and as far up the east 
side as to meet our preyiously explored portion of it, whilst 
Thompson and I walked along on the land, the one close 
down to the beach, and the other higher up, examining the 
more conspicuous parts : in this order we traversed the re- 
maining portion of the island. 

Although the snow served to conceal from us any traces 
which might exist in hollows or sheltered situations, yet it 
rendered all objects intended to serve as marks proportion- 
ably conspicuous ; and we may remember that it was in its 
winter garb that the retreating crews saw Montreal Island, 
precisely as we ourselves saw it. The island was almost 
covered with native marks, usually of one stone standing 
upright upon another, sometimes consisting of three stones, 
but very rarely of a greater number. 

No trace of a cairn could be found. 

In examining, with pickaxe and shovel, a collection of 
stones which appeared to be arranged artificially, we found 
a quantity of seal's blubber buried beneath ; this old Esqui- 
maux cache was near the S. E. point of the island. The 
interior of the island and the principal islets adjacent were 
also examined without success, nor was there the slightest 
U 



210 TOTAL ABSENCE OE RELICS. Chap. "XIV. 

evidence of natives having been here during the winter : it 
is not to be wondered at that we returned in the evening to 
our tent somewhat dispirited. The total absence of natives 
was a bitter disappointment ; circles of stones, indicating 
the sites of their tenting places in summer, were common 
enough. 

Montreal Island is of primary rock, chiefly grey gneiss, 
traversed with whitish vertical bands in a N". and S. direc- 
tion (by them I often directed my route when crossing the 
island). It is of considerable elevation, and extremely 
rugged. The low beaches and grassy hollows were covered 
with a foot or two of hard snow, whilst all the level, the 
elevated, or exposed parts were swept perfectly bare ; had a 
cairn, or even a grave existed (raised as it must be, the 
earth being frozen hard as rock), we must at once have 
seen it. If any were constructed they must have been lev- 
elled by the natives ; every doubtful appearance was exam- 
ined with the pickaxe. 

A remark made by my men struck me as being shrewd ; 
they judged from the washed appearance of the rock upon 
the east side of Montreal Island that it must be often ex- 
posed to a considerable sea, such as would effectually remove 
everything not placed far above its reach; when looking 
over the smooth and frozen expanse one is apt to forget this. 

Since our first landing upon King "William's Island we 
have not met with any heavy ice ; all along its eastern and 
southern shore, together with the estuary of this great river, 
is one vast unbroken sheet formed in the early part of last 
winter where no ice previously existed; this I fancy (from 
the accounts of Back and Anderson) is unusual, and may 
have caused the Esquimaux to vary their seal-hunting lo- 
calities. Mr. Petersen suggested that they might have re- 
tired into the various inlets after the seals ; and therefore I 
determined to cross over into Barrow's Inlet as soon as we 
bad examined the Point Ogle Peninsula. 



Mat, 1859. SHOOTING GAME. 211 

Upon Montreal Island I shot a hare and a brace of wil- 
low-grouse. Up to this date we had shot during our jour- 
ney only one bear and a couple of ptarmigan. The first 
recent traces of reindeer were met with here. 

On the 18th May we crossed over to the mainland near 
Point Duncan, but Hampton again complaining, I was 
obliged to encamp. When away from my party, and ex- 
ploring along the shore towards Elliot Bay, I saw a herd 
of eight reindeer and succeeded in shooting one of them. 
In the evening Petersen saw another. Some willow-grouse 
also were seen. Here we found much more vegetation than 
upon King William's Island, or any other Arctic land I 
have yet seen. 

On the evening of the 19th we commenced our return 
journey, but for the three following weeks our route led us 
over new ground. Hampton being unable to drag, I made 
over my puppy-team to him, and was thus left free to 
explore and fully examine every doubtful object along our 
route. I shall not easily forget the trial my patience under- 
went during the six weeks that I drove that dog-sledge. 
The leader of my team, named " Omar Pascha," was very 
willing, but very lame ; little " Rose" was coquettish, and 
fonder of being caressed than whipped ; from some cause or 
other she ceased growing when only a few months old ; she 
was therefore far too small for heavy work ; " Darky" and 
" Missy" were mere pups ; and last of all came the two 
wretched starvelings, reared in the winter, " Foxey" and 
"Dolly." Each dog had its own harness, formed of strips 
of canvas, and was attached to the sledge by a single trace 
12 feet long. None of them had ever been yoked before, 
and the amount of cunning and perversity they displayed 
to avoid both the whip and the work, was quite astonishing. 
They bit through their traces, and hid away under the 
sledge, or leaped over one another's backs, so as to get 
into the middle of the team out of the way of my whip, 



212 EXAMINE OGLE PENINSULA. Chap. XIV. 

until the traces became plaited up, and the dogs were 
almost knotted together; the consequence was I had to 
halt every few minutes, pull off my mits, and, at the risk 
of frozen fingers, disentangle the lines. I persevered, how- 
ever, and, without breaking any of their bones, succeeded 
in getting a surprising amount of work out of them. Hob- 
son drove his own dog-sledge likewise, and as long as we 
were together we helped each other out of difficulties, and 
they were frequently occurring, for, apart from those I have 
above mentioned, directly a dog-sledge is stopped by hum- 
mocks, or sticks fast in deep snow, the dogs, instead of 
exerting themselves, lie down, looking perfectly delighted 
at the circumstance, and the driver has to extricate the 
sledge with a hearty one, two, three haul 1 and apply, a little 
gentle persuasion to set his canine team in motion again. 

Having searched the east shore of this land for Y or 8 
miles further north, we crossed over into Barrow's Inlet, 
and spent a day in its examination, but not a trace of 
natives were met with 

Regaining the shore of Dease and Simpson's Strait, some 
miles to the west of Point Richardson, we crossed over to 
King William's Island upon the morning of the 24th, 
striking in upon it a short distance west of the PefFer 
River. The south coast was closely examined as we 
marched along towards Cape Herschel. Upon a conspicu- 
ous point, to the westward of Point Gladman, a cairn 
nearly five feet high was seen, which, although it did not 
appear to be a recent construction, was taken down, stone 
by stone, and carefully examined, the ground beneath being 
broken up with the pickaxe, but nothing was covered. 

The ground about it was much exposed to the winds, and 
consequently devoid of snow, so that no trace could have 
escaped us. Simpson does not mention having landed here, 
or anywhere upon the island except at Cape Herschel, yet 
it seemed to me strange that natives should construct such 



Mat, 1859. A SKELETON DISCOVERED. 213 

a mark here, since a huge boulder, which would equally 
serve their purpose, stood upon the same elevation, and 
within a couple of hundred yards. We had previously 
examined a similar but smaller cairn, a few miles to the 
eastward. 

We were now upon the shore along which the retreating 
crews must have marched. My sledges of course travelled 
upon the sea-ice close along the shore ; and, although the 
depth of snow which covered the beach deprived us of 
almost every hope, yet we kept a very sharp look-out for 
traces, nor were we unsuccessful. Shortly after midnight 
of the 24th May, when slowly walking along a gravel ridge 
near the beach, which the winds kept partially bare of 
snow, I came upon a human skeleton, partly exposed, with 
here and there a few fragments of clothing appearing 
through the snow. The skeleton — now perfectly bleached 
! — was lying upon its face, the limbs and smaller bones either 
dissevered or gnawed away by small animals. 

A most careful examination of the spot was of course 
made, the snow removed, and every scrap of clothing 
gathered up. A pocket-book afforded strong grounds of 
hope that some information might be subsequently obtained 
respecting the unfortunate owner and the calamitous march 
of the lost crews, but at the time it was frozen hard. The . 
substance of that which we gleaned upon the spot may thus 
be summed up : 

This victim was a young man, slightly built, and perhaps 
above the common height ; the dress appeared to be that 
of a steward or officer's servant, the loose bow-knot in 
which his neck-handkerchief was tied not being used by 
seamen or officers. In every particular the dress confirmed 
our conjectures as to his rank or office in the late expedi- 
tion, — the blue jacket with slashed sleeves and braided 
edging, and the pilot-cloth great-coat with plain covered 
buttons. We found, also, a clothes-brush near, and a horn 



214 VAGUENESS OP INFORMATION. Chap. XIV. 

pocket-comb. This poor man seems to have selected the 
bare riclge top, as affording the least tiresome walking, and 
to have fallen upon his face in the position in which we 
found him. 

It was a melancholy truth that the old woman spoke 
when she said, " they fell down and died as they walked 
along." 

I do not think the Esquimaux had discovered this skele- 
ton, or they would have carried off the brush and comb ; su- 
perstition prevents them from disturbing their own dead, 
but would not keep them from appropriating the property 
of the white man, if in any way useful to them. Dr. Rae 
obtained a piece of flannel, marked " E. D. Y., 1845," from 
the Esquimaux of Boothia or Repulse Bay : it had -doubt- 
less been a part of poor Des Vceux's garments. 

At the time of our interview with the natives of King 
William's Island, Petersen was inclined to think that the 
retreat of the crews took place in the fall of the year, some 
of the men in boats, and others walking along the shore ; 
and as only five bodies are said to have been found upon 
Montreal Island with the boat, this fact favored his opinion, 
because so small a number could not have dragged her 
there over the ice, although they could very easily have 
taken her there by water. Subsequently this opinion 
proved erroneous. I mention it because it shows how vague 
our information was — indeed all Esquimaux accounts are 
naturally so — and how entirely we were dependent upon 
our own exertions for bringing to light the mystery of their 
fate. 

The information obtained by Dr. Rae was mainly derived 
second-hand from the Fish River Esquimaux, and should 
not be confounded with that received by us from the King 
William's Island Esquimaux. These people told us they 
did not find the bodies of the white men (that is, they did 
not know any had died upon the march) until the following 



May, 1859. SIMPSON'S CAIRN. 215 

winter. This is probably true, as it is only in winter and 
early spring they can travel overland to the west shore, or 
that they make a practice of wandering along the shore in. 
search of seals and bears. 

The remains of those who died in the Fish River may 
very probably have been discovered in the summer shortly 
after their decease. 

Along the south coast of King "William's Land, as upon 
the mainland, I was sadly disappointed in my expectation 
of meeting natives. We found only six or eight deserted 
snow huts, showing that they had recently been here, and 
consequently there was less chance of meeting with them on 
our further progress, as the season had now arrived when 
they seek the rivers and the favorite haunts and passes of 
the reindeer in their northern migration. 

Hobson was, however, upon the western coast, and I 
hoped to find a note left for me at Cape Herschel, contain- 
ing some piece of good news. After minutely examining 
the intervening coast-line, it was with strong and reasona- 
ble hope I ascended the slope which is crowned by Simp- 
son's conspicuous cairn. This summit of Cape Herschel is 
perhaps 150 feet high, and about a quarter of a mile within 
the low stony point which projects from it, and on which 
there was considerable ice pressure and a few hummocks 
heaped up, the first we had seen for three weeks. Close 
round this point, or by cutting across it as we did, the retreat- 
ing party must have passed ; and the opportunity afforded 
by the cairn of depositing in a known position — and that, 
too, where their own discoveries terminated — some record 
of their own proceedings, or, it might be, a portion of their 
scientific journals, would scarcely have been disregarded. 

Simpson makes no mention of having left a record in this 
cairn, nor would Franklin's people have taken any trouble 
to find it if he had left one ; but what now remained of this 
once " pondrous cairn" was only four feet high ; the south 



216 FRUITLESS SEARCH. Chap. XIV. 

side had been pulled down and the central stones removed, 
as if by persons seeking for something deposited beneath. 
After removing the snow with which it was filled, and a few 
loose stones, the men laid bare a large slab of limestone ; 
with difficulty this was removed, then a second, and also a 
^third slab, when they came -to the ground. For some time 
we persevered with a pickaxe, in breaking up the frozen 
earth, but nothing whatever was found, nor any trace of 
European visitors in its vicinity. There were many old 
caches and low stone walls, such as natives would use to 
lurk behind for the purpose of shooting reindeer ; and we 
noticed some recent tracks of those animals which had 
crossed direct hither from the mainland. 



Mat, 1859. THE CAIRN EMPTY. 217 



CHAPTER XV. 

The cairn found empty — Discover Hobson's letter — Discovery of Cro- 
zier's record — The deserted boat — Articles discovered about the boat— 
The skeleton and relics — The boat belonged to the 'Erebus' — Conjec- 
tures. 

As the Esquimaux of this land, as well as those of 
Boothia and Pond's Inlet, have long since given up the 
practice of building stone dwellings — passing their winters 
in snow huts, and summers in tents — no other traces of them 
than those described remain ; so that when or in what num- 
bers they may have been here one cannot form any opinion, 
the same caches and hiding-places serving for generations. 

I cannot divest myself of the belief that some record was 
left here by the retreating crews, and perhaps some most 
valuable documents which their slow progress and fast 
failing strength would have assured them could not be car- 
ried much farther. If any such were left they have been 
discovered by the natives, and carried off, or thrown away 
as worthless. Doubtless the natives, when they ascertained 
that famine and fatigue had caused many of the white men 
"to fall down and die" upon their fearful march, and heard, 
as they might have clone, of its fatal termination upon the 
mainland, lost no time in following up their traces, examin- 
ing every spot where they halted, every mark they put up, 
or stone displaced. 

It is easy to tell whether a cairn has been put up or 
touched within a moderate period of years ; if very old, 
the outer stones have a weathered appearance, lichens will 
have grown upon the sheltered portions and moss in the 



218 INTEREST ATTACHING TO THE CAIRN. Chap. XV. 

crevices ; but if recently disturbed, even if a single stone is 
turned upside down, these appearances are altered. If a 
cairn has been recently built it will be evident, because the 
stones picked up from the neighborhood would be bleached 
on top by the exposure of centuries, whilst underneath they 
would be colored by the soil in which they were imbedded. 

To the eye of the native hunter these marks of a recent 
cairn are at once apparent : and unless Simpson's cairn 
(built in 1839) had been disturbed by Crozier, I do not 
think the Esquimaux would have been at the trouble of 
pulling it down to plunder the cache ; but having com- 
menced to do so, would not have left any of it standing, 
unless they found what they sought. 

I noticed with great care the appearance of the stones, 
and came to the conclusion that the cairn itself was of old 
date, and had been erected many years ago, and that it was 
reduced to the state in which we found it by people having 
broken down one side of it ; the displaced stones, from 
being turned over, looking far more fresh than those in that 
portion of the cairn which had been left standing. It was 
with a feeling of deep regret and much disappointment that 
I left this spot without finding some certain record of those 
martyrs to their country's fame. Perhaps in all the wide 
world there will be few spots more hallowed in the recollec- 
tion of English seamen than this cairn on Cape Herschel. 

A few miles beyond Cape Herschel the land becomes 
very low ; many islets and shingle-ridges lie far off the 
coast ; and as we advanced we- met with hummocks of un- 
usually heavy ice, showing plainly that we were now travel- 
ling upon a far more exposed part of the coast-line. We 
were approaching a spot where a revelation of intense in- 
terest was awaiting me. 

About 12 miles from Cape Herschel I found a small 
cairn built by Hobson's party, and containing a note for 
me. He had reached this his extreme point, six days pre- 






May, 1859. DISCOVERY OF GORE'S RECORD. 219 

viously, without having seen anything of the wreck, or of 
natives, but he had found a record — the record so ardently 
sought for, of the Franklin Expedition — at Point Yictory, 
on the IS". W. coast of King William's Land 

That record is indeed a sad and touching relic of our 
lost friends, and, to simplify its contents, I will point out 
separately the double story it so briefly tells. In the first 
place, the record paper was one of the printed forms usually 
supplied to discovery ships for the purpose of being enclosed 
in bottles and thrown overboard at sea, in order to ascer- 
tain the set of the currents, blanks . being left for the date 
and position ; any person finding one of these records is 
requested to forward it to the Secretary of the Admiralty, 
with a note of time and place ; and this request is printed 
upon it in six different languages. Upon it was written 
apparently by Lieutenant G-ore, as follows : 

"28 of May, f H. M. ships ' Erebus' and 'Terror' wintered in the ice in 
1847. { lat. 70° 05' N.; long. 98° 23' W". 

Having wintered in 1846-7 at Beechey Island, in lat. 74° 43' 28" N.j 
long. 91° 39' 15" W., after having ascended Wellington Channel to lat. 
77°, and returned by the west side of Cornwallis Island. 
" Sir John Franklin commanding the expedition. 
" All well. 

" Party consisting of 2 officers and 6 men left the ships on Monday, 
24th May, 1847. 

" Gir. Gore, Lieut. 

" Chas. F. Des Vceus, Mate." 

There js an error in the above document, namely, that 
the ' Erebus' and ' Terror' wintered at Beechey Island in 
1846— T, — the correct dates should have been 1845-6 ; a 
glance at the date at the top and bottom of the record 
proves this, but in all other respects the tale is told in as 
few words as possible of their wonderful success up to that 
date, May, 1847. 

We find that, after the last intelligence of Sir John 



220 GORE'S RECORD. Chap. XV 

Franklin was received by us (bearing date of July, 1845), 
from the whalers in Melville Bay, that his Expedition 
passed on to Lancaster Sound, and entered Wellington 
Channel, of which the southern entrance had been dis- 
covered by Sir Edward Parry in 1819. The 'Erebus' 
and ' Terror' sailed up that strait for one hundred and fifty 
miles, and reached in the autumn of 1845 the same latitude 
as was attained eight years subsequently by H. M. S. 'As- 
sistance' and ' Pioneer.' Whether Franklin intended to 
pursue this northern course, and was only stopped by ice 
in that latitude of T7° north, or purposely relinquished a 
route which seemed to lead away from the known seas off 
the coast of America, must be a matter of opinion ; but 
this the document assures of, that Sir John Franklin's Ex- 
pedition, having accomplished this examination, returned 
southward from latitude 77° north, which is at the head of 
Wellington Channel, and re-entered Barrow's Strait by a 
new channel between Bathurst and Cornwallis Islands. 

Seldom has such an amount of success been accorded to 
an Arctic navigator in a single season, and when the ' Ere- 
bus' and ' Terror' were secured at Beechey Island for the 
coming winter of 1845-6, the results of their .first year's 
labor must have been most cheering. These results were 
the exploration of Wellington and Queen's Channel, and 
the addition to our charts of the extensive lands on either 
hand. In 1846 they proceeded to the southwest, and eventu- 
ally reached within twelve miles of the north extreme of 
King William's Land, when their progress was arrested by 
the approaching winter of 1846-7. That winter appears 
to have passed without any serious loss of life ; and when 
in the spring Lieutenant Gore leaves with a party for some 
especial purpose, and very probably to connect the unknown 
coast-line of King William's Land between Point Victory 
and Cape Herschel, those on board the 'Erebus' and 



Mjt, 1859. DISCOVERT OF CROZIER'S RECORD. 221 

'Terror' were "all well," and the gallant Franklin still 
commanded. 

But, alas ! round the margin of the paper upon which 
Lieutenant Gore in 184T wrote those words of hope and 
promise, another hand had subsequently written the follow- 
ing words : — 

"April 25, 1848.— H. M. ships 'Terror' and 'Erebus' 
were deserted on the 22d April, 5 leagues N. M". W. of this, 
having been beset since 12th September, 1846. The offi- 
cers and crews, consisting of 105 souls, under the command 
of Captain F. R. M. Crozier, landed here in lat. 69° 31' 
42" K, long. 98° 41' W. Sir John Franklin died on the 
11th June, 184T ; and the total loss by deaths in the expe- 
dition has been to this date 9 officers and 15 men. 
(Signed) (Signed) 

"F. R. M. Crozier, "James Fitzjames, 

" Captain and Senior Officer. " Captain H. M. S. Erebus. 

" and start (on) to-morrow, 26th, for 
Back's Fish River." 

The marginal information was evidently written by Cap- 
tain Fitzjames, excepting only the note stating when and 
where they were going, which was added by Captain Cro- 
zier. 

There is some additional marginal information relative to 
the transfer of the document to its present position (viz,, 
the site of Sir James Ross's pillar) from a spot four miles 
to the northward, near Point Victory, where it had been 
originally deposited by the late Commander Gore. This 
little word late shows us that he too, within the twelve- 
month, had passed away. 

In the short space of twelve months how mournful had 
become the history of Franklin's expedition ; how changed 
from the cheerful "All well" of Graham Gore ! The spring 



222 DISCREPANCY IN THE RECORD. Chap. XV. 

of 184? found them within 90 miles of the known sea off 
the coast of America ; and to men who had already in two 
seasons sailed over 500 miles of previously unexplored wa- 
ters, how confident mnst they have felt that that forthcoming 
navigable season of 184? would see their ships pass over 
so short an intervening space ! It was ruled otherwise. 
Within a month after Lieutenant Gore placed the record on 
Point "Victory, the much-loved leader of the expedition, Sir 
John Franklin, was dead ; and the following spring found 
Captain Crozier, upon whom the command had devolved at 
King William's Land, endeavoring to save his starving men, 
105 souls in all, from a terrible death, by retreating to the 
Hudson Bay territories up the Back or Great Fish River. 

A sad tale was never told in fewer words. There is some- 
thing deeply touching in their extreme simplicity, and they 
show in the strongest manner that both the leaders of this 
retreating party were actuated by the loftiest sense of duty, 
and met with calmness and decision the fearful alternative 
of a last bold struggle for life, rather than perish without 
effort on board their ships ; for we well know that the ' Ere- 
bus' and 'Terror' were only provisioned up to July, 1848. 

Another discrepancy exists in the second part of the re- 
cord written by Fitzjames. The original number composing 
the expedition was 138 souls,* and the record states the 
total loss by deaths to have been 9 officers and 15 men, 
consequently that 114 officers and men remained; but it 
also states that 105 only landed under Captain Crozier's 
command, so that 9 individuals are unaccounted for. 

Lieutenant Hobson's note told me that he found quanti- 
ties of clothing and articles of all kinds lying about the 
cairn, as if these men, aware that they were retreating for 
their lives, had there abandoned every thing which they con- 
sidered superfluous. 

* See Conclusion, p. 



Mat, 1859. CAPE CROZIER. 223 

Hobson had experienced extremely bad weather — constant 
gales and fogs — and thought he might have passed the 
wreck without seeing her; he hoped to be more successful 
upon his return journey. 

Encouraged by this important news, we exerted our ut 
most vigilance in order that no trace should escape us. 

Our provisions were running very short, therefore the 
three remaining puppies were of necessity shot, and their 
sledges used for fuel. We were also enabled to lengthen 
our journeys, as we had very smooth ice to travel over, the 
off-lying islets keeping the rough pack from pressing in 
upon the shore. 

Upon the 29th of May we reached the western extreme 
of King William's Island, in lat. 69° 08' N., and long. 
100° 08' W. I named it after Captain Crozier of the 
1 Terror,' the gallant leader of that " Eorlorn Hope " of 
which we now just obtained tidings. The coast we marched 
along was extremely low — a mere series of ridges of lime- 
stone shingle, almost destitute of fossils. The only tracks 
of amimals seen were those of a bear and a few foxes — the 
only living creatures a few willow grouse. Traces even of 
the wandering Esquimaux became much less frequent after 
leaving Cape Herschel. Here were found only a few circles 
of stones, the sites of tenting-places, but so moss-grown as 
to be of great age. The prospect to seaward was not less 
forbidding — a rugged surface of crushed-up pack, including 
much heavy ice. In these shallow ice-covered seas, seals 
are but seldom found : and it is highly probable that all 
animal life in them is as scarce as upon the land. 

From Cape Crozier the coast-line was found to turn 
sharply away to the eastward ; and early in the morning of 
the 30th May we encamped alongside a large boat — another 
melancholy relic which Hobson had found and examined a 
few days before, as his note left here informed me : but he 



224 DESERTED BOAT. Chap. XV. 

had failed to discover record, journal, pocket-book, or mem- 
orandum of any description. 

A vast quantity of tattered clothing was lying in her, and 
this we first examined. Not a single article bore the name 
of its former owner. The boat was cleared out and care- 
fully swept that nothing might escape us. The snow was 
then removed from about her, but nothing whatever was 
found. 

This boat measured 28 feet long, and 7 feet 3 inches wide ; 
she was built with a view to lightness and light draught of 
water, and evidently equipped with the utmost care for the 
ascent of the Great Fish River ; she had neither oars nor 
rudder, paddles supplying their place, and as a large rem- 
nant of light canvas, commonly known as No. 8, was found, 
and also a small block for reeving a sheet through, I sup- 
pose she had been provided with a sail. A sloping canvas 
roof or rain-awning had also formed part of her equipment. 
She was fitted with a weather-cloth 9 inches high, battened 
down all round the gunwale, and supported by 24 iron 
stanchions, so placed as to serve likewise for rowing 
thowells. There were 50 fathoms of deep-sea sounding-line 
near her, as well as an ice grapnel. She appeared to have 
been originally "carvel" built; but for the purpose of re- 
ducing weight, very thin fir planks had been substituted for 
her seven upper strakes, and put on " clincher " fashion. 

The weight of the boat alone was about 700 or 800 lbs. 
only, but she was mounted upon a sledge of unusual weight 
and strength. It was constructed of two oak planks 23 
feet 4 inches in length, 8 inches in width, and with an aver- 
age thickness of 2^ inches. These planks formed the sides 
or runners of the sledge ; they were connected by five cross- 
bars of oak, each 5 feet long, and 4 inches by 3^ inches 
thick, and bolted down to the runners ; the underneath 
parts of the latter were shod with iron. Upon the cross- 
bars five saddles or supporting chocks for the boat were 



May, 1859. DESCRIPTION OF THE BOAT. 225 

lashed, and the drag-ropes by which the crew moved this 
massive, sledge, and the weights upon it, consisted of 2f 
inch whale line. 

I have calculated the weight of this sledge to be 650 lbs. ; 
it could not have been less, and may have been considerably 
more. The total weight of boat and sledge may be taken 
at 1400 lbs., which amounts to a heavy load for seven 
strong healthy men. 

The only markings about the boat were those upon her 
stem, by which we learned that she was built by contract, 




was received into Woolwich Dockyard in April, 184 ,* and 
was numbered 61. There may have been a fourth figure to 
the right hand, as the stem had been reduced in order to 
lighten the boat. The ground the sledge rested upon was 
the usual limestone shingle, perfectly flat, and probably 
overflowed at times every summer, as the stones were im- 
bedded in ice. 

The boat was partially out of her cradle upon the sledge, 
and lying" in such a position as to lead me to suppose it the 

* Only the first three figures of the date upon her stem remained, thus 
—184 . 

15 



226 SKELETONS AND RELICS. Chap. XV. 

effect of a violent northwest "gale. She was barely, if at 
all, above the reach of occasional tides. 

One hundred yards from her, upon the laud side, lay the 
stump of a fir-tree 12 feet long, and 16 inches in diameter 
at 3 feet above the roots. Although the ice had used it 
roughly during its drift to this shore, and rubbed off every 
vestige of bark, yet the wood was perfectly sound. It may 
have been and probably has been lying there for twenty or 
thirty years, and during such a period would suffer less de- 
cay in this region of frost than in one-sixth of the time at 
home. Within two yards of it I noticed a few scanty tufts 
of grass. 

But all these were after observations ; there was that in 
the boat which transfixed us with awe. It was portions of 
two human skeletons. One was that of a slight young 
person ; the other of a large, strongly-made, middle-aged 
man. The former was found in the bow of the boat, but in 
too much disturbed a state to enable Hobson to judge 
whether the sufferer had died there ; large and powerful 
animals, probably wolves, had destroyed much of this skele- 
ton, which may have been that of au officer. Near it we 
found the fragment of a pair of worked slip- 
pers, of which I give the pattern, as they may 
possibly be identified. The lines were white 
with a black margin ; the spaces white, red, 
and yellow. They had originally been 11 
inches long, lined with calf-skin with the hair left on, and 
the edges bound with red silk ribbon. Besides these slip- 
pers there were a pair of small strong shooting half-boots. 
The other skeleton was in a somewhat more perfect state,* 
and was enveloped with clothes and furs ; it lay across the 
boat, under the after-thwart. Close beside it were found 
five watches ; and there were two double-barrelled guns — 

* No part of the skull of either skeleton was found, with the exception 
only of the lower jaw of each. 




May, 1859. RELICS ABOUT THE BOAT. 22T 

one barrel in each loaded and cocked — standing muzzle 
upward against the boat's side. It may be imagined with 
what deep interest these sad relics were scrutinised, and how 
anxiously every fragment of clothing was turned over in 
search of pockets and pocket-books, journals, or even names. 
Five or six small books were found, all of them scriptural 
or devotional works, except the ' Yicar of Wakefield.' One 
little book, ' Christian Melodies,' bore an inscription upon 
the titlepage from the donor to G. G. (Graham Gore ?) A 
small Bible contained numerous marginal notes, and whole 
passages underlined. Besides these books, the covers of a 
New Testament and Prayerbook were found. 

Amongst an amazing quantity of clothing there were 
seven or eight pairs of boots of various kinds — cloth 
winter boots, sea boots, heavy ankle boots, and strong 
shoes. I noted that there were silk handkerchiefs — black, 
white, and figured — towels, soap, sponge, tooth-brush, and 
hair-combs ; mackintosh gun-cover, marked outside with 
paint a 12, and lined with black cloth.' Besides these arti- 
cles we found twine, nails, saws, files, bristles, wax-ends, 
sailmakers' palms, powder, bullets, shot, cartridges, wads, 
leather cartridge-case, knives — clasp and dinner ones — 
needle and thread cases, slow-match, several bayonet-scab- 
bards cut down into knife-sheaths, two rolls of sheet-lead, 
and, in short, a quantity of articles of one description and 
another truly astonishing in variety, and such as, for the 
most part, modern sledge-travelers in these regions would 
consider a mere accumulation of dead weight, but slightly 
useful, and very likely to break down the strength of the 
Bledge-crews. 

The only provisions we could find were tea and chocolate ; 
of the former very little remained, but there were nearly 40 
pounds of the latter. These articles alone could never sup- 
port life in such a climate, and we found neither biscuit nor 
meat of any kind. A portion of tobacco and an empty 



228 RELICS ABOUT THE EOAT. Chap. XV. 

pemmican-tin, capable of containing 22 pounds weight, 
were discovered. The tin was marked with an E ; it had 
probably belonged to the 'Erebus.' None of the fuel origi- 
nally brought from the ships remained in or about the boat, 
but there was no lack of it, for a drift-tree was lying on the 
beach close at hand, and had the party been in need of fuel 
they would have used the paddles and bottom-boards of the 
boat. 

In the after part of the boat we discovered eleven large 
spoons, eleven forks, and four teaspoons, all of silver ; of 
these twenty-six pieces of plate, eight bore Sir John Frank- 
lin's crest, the remainder had the crests or initials of nine 
different officers, with the exception of a single fork which 
was not marked ; of these nine officersffive belonged to the 
' Erebus,' — Gore, Le Yesconte, Fairholme, Couch, and 
Goodsir. Three others belonged to the 'Terror,' — Crozier, 
(a teaspoon only,) Hornby, and Thomas. I do not know 
to whom the three articles with an owl engraved on them 
belonged, nor who was the owner of the unmarked fork, 
but of the owners of those we can identify, the majority 
belonged to the 'Erebus.' One of the watches bore the 
crest of Mr. Couch, of the 'Erebus,' and as the pemmican 
tin also came from that ship, I am inclined to think the boat 
did also ; the authorities at Woolwich could tell (by her 
number) to which ship she was supplied ; and as one of the 
pocket chronometers found in the boat was marked, "Park- 
inson and Frodsham 980," and the other "Arnold 2020," 
it could also be ascertained to which ship they had been 
issued.* 

Sir John Franklin's plate perhaps was issued to the men 
for their use, as the only means of saving it ; and it seems 
probable that the officers generally did the same, as not a 

* These chronometers, according to the receipts in office, were supplied 
one to each ship in 1845 ; but it is impossible to tell to which ship the 
boat belonged, as the number is imperfect. 



May, 1859. CONJECTURES. 229 

single iron spoon, such as sailors always use, has been found. 
Of the many men, probably twenty or thirty, who were 
attached to this boat, it seemed most strange that the re- 
mains of only two individuals were found, nor were there 
any graves upon the neighboring flat land ; indeed, bearing 
in mind the season at which these poor fellows left their 
ships, it should be remembered that the soil was then frozen 
hard, and the labor of cutting a grave very great indeed. 

I was astonished to find that the sledge was directed to 
the N. E., exactly for the next point of land for which we 
ourselves were travelling 1 

The position of this abandoned boat is about 50 miles — 
as a sledge would travel — from Point Victory, and therefore 
65 miles from the position of the ships ; also it is TO miles 
from the skeleton of the steward, and 150 miles from Mon- 
treal Island ; it is moreover in the depth of a wide bay, 
where, by crossing over 10 or 12 miles of very low land, a 
great saving of distance would be effected, the route by the 
coast-line being about 40 miles. 

A little reflection led me to satisfy my own mind at least, 
that the boat was returning to the ships : and in no other 
way can I account for two men having been left in her, 
than by supposing the party were unable to drag the boat 
further, and that these two men, not being able to keep 
pace with their shipmates, were therefore left by them sup- 
plied with such provisions as could be spared, to last until 
the return of the others from the ship with a fresh stock. 

"Whether it was the intention of the retroceding party to 
await the result of another season in the ships, or to follow 
the track of the main body to the Great Fish River, is now 
a matter of conjecture. It seems highly probable that they 
had purposed revisiting the boat, not only on account of 
the two men left in charge of it, but also to obtain the 
chocolate, the five watches, and many other articles which 
would otherwise scarcely have been left in her. 



230 POINT FKANKLIN. Chap. XV. 

The same reasons which may be assigned for the return 
of this detachment from the main body, will also serve to 
account for their not having come back to their boat. In 
both instances they appear to have greatly overrated their 
strength, and the distance they could travel in a given 
time. 

Taking this view of the case, we can understand why 
their provisions would not last them for anything like the 
distance they required to travel ; and why they would be 
obliged to send back to the ships for more, first taking from 
the detached party all provisions they could possibly spare. 
Whether all or any of the remainder of this detached party 
ever reached their ships is uncertain ; all we know is, that 
they did not revisit the boat, and which accounts for the 
absence of more skeletons in its neighborhood, and the 
Esquimaux report that there was no one alive in the ship 
when she drifted on shore, and that but one human body 
was found by them on board of her. 

After leaving the boat we followed an irregular coast- 
line to the ~N. and 1ST. W., up to a very prominent cape, 
which is probably the extreme of land seen from Point Vic- 
tory by Sir James Ross, and named by him Point Frank- 
lin, which name, as a cape, it still retains. 

I need hardly say that throughout the whole of my jour- 
ney along the shores of King William's Land I caused a 
most vigilant look-out to be kept to seaward for any ap- 
pearance of the stranded ship spoken of by the natives : our 
search was however fruitless in that respect. 



Joke, 1859, POINT VICTORY. 231 



CHAPTER XYI. 

Errors in Franklin's records — Relics found at the cairn — Reflections on 
the retreat — Returning homeward — Geological remarks — Difficulties of 
summer sledging — Arrive on board the 'Fox' — Navigable N. W. Pas- 
sage — Death from scurvy — Anxiety for Captain Young — Young returns 
safely. 

On the morning of 2nd June we reached Point Victory. 
Here Hobson's note left for me in the cairn informed me 
that he had not found the slightest trace either of a wreck 
anywhere upon the coast, or of natives to the north of Cape 
Crozier. 

Although somewhat short of provisions, I determined to 
remain a day here in order to .examine an opening at the 
Bottom of Back Bay, called so after Sir George Back, by 
his friend Sir James Ross, and which had not been ex- 
plored. This proved to be an inlet nearly 13 miles deep, 
with an average width of 1^ or 2 miles; I drove round it 
Upon the dog sledge, but found no trace of human beings; 
it was filled with heavy old ice, and was therefore unfavor- 
able for the resort of seals, and consequently of natives 
also. 

The direction of the inlet is to the E. S. E. ; we found 
the land on either side rose as we advanced up it, and 
attained a considerable elevation, except immediately across 
its head, where alone it was very low; I have conferred 
upon it the name of Collinson, after one who will ever be 
distinguished in connection with the Franklin search, and 
who kindly relieved Lady Franklin of much trouble by 
taking upon himself the financial business of this expedi- 
tion. 



232 REFLECTIONS ON RECORDS. Chap. XVI. 

An extensive bay, westward of Cape Herschel, I have 
named after Captain Washington, the hydrographer, a 
steadfast supporter of this final seerch. 

All the intermediate coast-line, along which the retreat- 
ing crews performed their fearful march, is sacred to their 
names alone. 

Hobson's note informed me of his having found a second 
record, deposited also by Lieutenant Gore in May, 184T, 
upon the south side of Back Bay, but it afforded no addi- 
tional information. 

It is strange that both these papers state the ships to 
have wintered in 1846— t at Beechey Island ! So obvious 
a mistake would hardly have been made had any importance 
been attached to these documents. They were soldered up 
in thin tin cylinders, having been filled up on board prior 
to the departure of the travellers ; consequently the day 
upon which they were deposited was not filled in ; but already 
the papers were much damaged by rust, — a very few more 
years would have rendered them wholly illegible. When 
the record left at Point Victory was opened to add thereto 
the supplemental information which gives it its chief value, 
Captain Fitzjames, as may be concluded by the color of the 
ink, filled in the date — 28th — in May, when the record was 
originally deposited. The cylinder containing the record 
had not been soldered up again ; I suppose they had not 
the means of doing so ; it was found on the ground amongst 
a few loose stones which had evidently fallen along with it 
from the top of the cairn. Hobson removed every stone of 
this cairn down to the ground and rebuilt it. 

Brief as these records are, we must needs be contented 
with them ; they are perfect models of official brevity. No 
log-book could be more provokingly laconic. Yet, that 
any record at all should be deposited after the abandonment 
of the ships, does not seem to have been intended; and we 
should feel the more thankful to Captains Crozier and Fitz- 



June, 1859. RELICS AT THE CAIK8. 233 

james, to whom we are indebted for the invaluable supple- 
ment ; and our gratitude ought to be all the greater when 
we remember that the ink had to be thawed, and that writ- 
ing in a tent during an April day in the Arctic regions is 
by no'means an easy task. 

Besides placing a copy of the record taken away by Hob- 
son from the cairn, we both put records of our own in it ; 
and I also buried one under a large stone ten feet true 
north from it, stating the explorations and discoveries we 
had made. 

A great quantity and variety of things lay strewed about 
the cairn, such as even in their three days' march from the 
ships the retreating crews found it impossible to carry fur- 
ther. Amongst these were four heavy sets of boat's cook- 
ing stoves, pickaxes, shovels, iron-hoops, old canvas, a large 
single block, about four feet of a copper lightning con- 
ductor, long pieces of hollow brass curtain rods, a small 
case of selected medicines containing about twenty-four 
phials, the contents in a wonderful state of preservation ; a 
dip circle, by Robinson, with two needles, bar magnets, 
and light horizontal needle all complete, the whole weighing 
only pine pounds ; and even a small sextant engraved with 
the name of " Frederick Hornby" lying beside the cairn 
without its case. The colored eye-shades of the sextant 
had been taken out, otherwise it was perfect ; the movable 
screws and such parts as come in contact with the observer's 
hand were neatly covered with thin leather to prevent frost- 
bite in severe weather. 

The clothing left by the retreating crews of the 'Erebus' 
and 'Terror' formed a huge heap four feet high; every 
article was searched, but the pockets were empty, and not 
one of all these articles were marked, — indeed sailors' warm 
clothing seldom is. Two canteens, the property of marines, 
were found, one marked "88 C°. Wm. Hedges," and the 
other " 89 C°. Wm. Hether." A small pauniken made out 



234 REFLECTIONS. Chap. XVI. 

of a two-pound preserved-meat tin had scratched on it "W. 
Mark." 

When continuing my homeward march, and, as nearly as 
I could judge, 2^ or 2| miles to the north of Point Vic- 
tory, I saw a few stones placed in line, as if across the head 
of a tenting place to afford some shelter; here it was I 
think that Lieutenant Gore deposited the record in May, 
1841, which was found in 1848 by Lieutenant Irving, and 
finally deposited at Point Yictory. Some scraps of tin 
vessels were lying about, but whether they had been left by 
Sir James Ross' party in May, 1830, or by the Franklin 
Expedition in 1847 or 1848, is uncertain."* 

Here ended my own search for traces of the lost ones. 
Hobson found two other cairns, and many relics, between 
this position and Cape Felix. From each place where any 
trace was discovered the most interesting of the relics were 
taken away, so that the collection we have made is very con- 
siderable. 

Of these northern cairns I will write a description when 
I have received Hobson's account of his journey ; but here 
it is as well to state his opinion, as well as my own, that no 
part of the coast between Cape Felix and Cape Crozier has 
been visited by Esquimaux since the fatal march of the lost 
crews in April, 1848 ; none of the cairns or numerous ar- 
ticles strewed about — which would be invaluable to the na- 
tives — or even the drift-wood we noticed, had been touched 
by them. From this very significant fact it seems quite 
certain that they had not been discovered by the Esquimaux, 
whose knowledge of the " white men falling down and 
dying as they walked along" must be limited to the shore- 
line southward and eastward of Cape Crozier, and where, 

* It is a remarkable circumstance that when, in 1S30, Sir James Boss 
discovered Point Victory, he named two points of land, then in sight, 
Cape Franklin and Cape Jane Franklin respectively. Eighteen years 
afterwards Franklin's ships perished within sight of those headlands. 



June, 1859. RETURNING HOMEWARD. 235 

of course, no traces were permitted to remain for us to find. 
It is not probable that such fearful mortality would have 
overtaken them so early in their march as within 80 miles 
by sledge-route from the abandoned ships — such being 
their distance from Cape Crozier ; nor is it probable that 
we could have passed the wreck had she existed there, as 
there are no off-lying islands to prevent a ship drifting in 
upon the beach ; whilst to the southward they are very nu- 
merous ; so much so that a drifting ship could hardly run 
the gauntlet between them so as to reach the shore. 

The coast from Point Victory northward is considerably 
higher than that upon which we have been so many days ; 
the sea also is not so shallow, and the ice comes close in ; 
to seaward all was heavy close pack, consisting of all de- 
scriptions of ice, but for the most part old and heavy. 

From Walls' Bay I crossed overland to the eastern shore, 
and reached my depot near the entrance of Port Parry on 
the 5th June, after an absence of thirty-four days. Hence 
I purposed travelling alongshore to Cape Sabine, in order 
to avoid the rough ice which we encountered when crossing 
direct from Cape Victoria in April, and also hoping to ob- 
tain a few more observations for the magnetic inclination. 

The weather became foggy as we approached Prince 
George's Bay, therefore we were obliged to go well into it 
before attempting to cross. We gained the land — upon 
the opposite side, as I supposed — and which would lead us 
direct to Cape Sabine ; but when the weather cleared up we 
saw a long low island to seaward of us, which puzzled me 
much. Eventually I found we had discovered a strait lead- 
ing from Prince George's Bay into Wellington Strait, about 
8 miles south of Cape Sabine. 

This discovery cost us a day's delay, and was therefore 
unwelcome, as we were then in daily expectation and dread 
of the thaw, which renders all travelling so very difficult ; and 
we were still 230 long miles from our ship. In this strait 



236 GEOLOGICAL KEMAEKS. Chap. XVI. 

we found a deserted snow village of seventeen huts ; one of 
tnem was unusually large, its internal diameter being 14 
feet. The men soon scraped together enough blubber to 
supply us with fuel for our homeward march. Strewed 
about on the ice or in every snow hut were shavings and 
chips of fresh wood ; in one of them I found a child's toy 
— a miniature sledge — made of wood. No traces of natives 
were found upon either shore of this place, nor had I met 
with any since leaving the western coast of the island to the 
southward of Cape Crozier. 

Having passed through nearly to the eastern end of the 
strait, we cut off some distance by crossing overland, so as to 
reach the sea-coast 3 or 4 miles southward of Cape Sabine. 
A few willow grouse, two foxes, and a young reindeer were 
seen. There was some vegetation upon the land, and ani- 
mals appeared to resort to this locality in tolerable abun- 
dance ; the contrast between it and the low, barren shore we 
had so recently come from was striking indeed ! 

Nothing can exceed the gloom and desolation of the wes- 
tern coast of King William's Island : Hobson and myself 
had some considerable experience of it ; his sojourn there 
exceeded a month ; its climate seems different from that of 
the eastern coast ; it is more exposed to north-west winds, 
and the air was almost constantly loaded with chilling fogs. 
Everywhere upon the shores of the island I noticed boul- 
ders of dark gneiss ; upon the west coast they were gener- 
ally small, and of a dark gray color. About the north 
part of the island Hobson found a good deal of sandstone, 
the probable result of ice-drift from Melville Island or 
Banks Land. 

This land gives one the idea of its having risen within a 
recent geological period of the sea — not suddenly, but at re- 
gular intervals ; the numerous terraces or beach- marks form 
long horizontal lines, rising very gradually, and in due pro- 
portion as their. distance increases from the seaj near the 



June, 1859. THE MAGNETIC INCLINATION. 231 

shore they are, of course, most distinct. Upon the west 
coast some fossils were picked up, chiefly impressions of 
shells. 

King William's Island is for the most part extremely 
barren, and its surface dotted over with innumerable ponds 
and lakes. It is not by any means " the land abounding 
with reindeer and musk oxen" which we expected to find ; 
the natives told us there were none of the latter and very 
few of the former upon it. 

On the 8th of June the first ducks and brent geese were 
seen flying northward. Passing over the extreme point of 
Cape Victoria, Boothia Land, near which we saw the de- 
serted snow huts of our March acquaintances, and shortly 
afterwards crossing the mouth of the deep bay to the north 
of it, in which, sheltered by the island, a ship would find 
security from the ice pressure, and very tolerable winter 
quarters, we again reached the straight low limestone coast 
of Boothia Felix, 

I was unable to make any delay at the Magnetic Pole, 
nor could I find a trace of Ross' cairn ;* but at each of our 
encampments along the coast the magnetic inclination was 
carefully observed. Throughout my whole journey I availed 
myself of every opportunity of obtaining these most inter- 
esting observations, often remaining up, after we had en- 
camped for rest, six or seven hours in order to do so ; but 
the instruments supplied for this purpose were not well 
adapted, and occasioned me a vast deal of labor and loss of 
time, so as to diminish to almost one-third the results I 
should otherwise have obtained. Much snow has disap- 
peared off the land ; and the ridges or ancient beaches, be- 
ing the parts most free from snow, showed oat strongly in 

* This cairn, as well as the one built on Point Victory in 1830, was 
removed by the natives ; fortunately they had not visited Point Victory 
whilst the Franklin cairn and record remained there, otherwise neither 
cairn nor record would have remained for us to discover. 



238 ILLNESS OF HOBSON. Chap. XVI. 

long, dark, horizontal lines, rising above each other until 
lost to view in the interior. Here and there a few fossil 
shells and corals were picked up, and four or five willow 
grouse shot. 

13th June. — We passed from limestone to granite in lai 
71° 10' N". Here the land attains to considerable elevation. 
In the hollows of the dark granite rocks we found abund- 
ance of water, and also in a few places upon the sea-ice ; 
it was quite evident that in another day or two the snow 
would altogether yield to the warmth of summer; birds 
were now frequently seen. 

We discovered a narrow channel to the eastward of the 
one between the Tasmania Group, through which we had 
passed with so much difficulty in April ; our new channel 
was covered with smooth ice, and was also much shorter. 

At one of our depots lately visited, a note left by Hob- 
son informed me of his being six days in advance of me, 
and also of his own serious illness ; for many days past he 
had been unable to walk, and was consequently conveyed 
upon the sledge ; his men were hastening home with all 
their strength and speed, in order to get him under the 
Doctor's care. We also were doing our best to push on, 
lest the bursting out of melting . snow from the various 
ravines should render the ice impassable. 

On the 15th the snow upon the ice everywhere yielded to 
the effects of increased temperature ; I was, indeed, most 
thankful at its having remained firm so long. To make any 
progress at all after this date was of course a very great 
labor, requiring the utmost efforts of both the men and the 
dogs ; nor was the freezing mixture through which we 
trudged by any means agreeable ; we were often more than 
knee-deep in it. 

We succeeded in reaching False Strait on the morning 
of the 18th June, and pitched our tent just as heavy rain 
began to descend ; it lasted throughout the greater part of 



June, 1859. NAVIGABLE N. W. PASSAGE. 239 

the day. After traveling a few miles upon the Long Lake, 
further progress was found to be quite impossible, and we 
were obliged to haul our sledges up off the flooded ice, 
and commence a march of 16 or Vl miles overland for the 
ship. The poor dogs were so tired and sore-footed, that 
we could not induce them to follow us ; they remained about 
the sledges. After a very fatiguing scramble across the 
hills and through the snow valleys, we were refreshed with 
a sight of our poor dear lonely little ' Fox,' and arrived on 
board in time for a late breakfast on the 19th June. 

With respect to a navigable North-West Passage, and to 
the probability of our having been able last season to make 
any considerable advance to the southward, had the barrier 
of ice across the western outlet of Bellot Strait permitted 
us to reach the open water beyond, I think, judging from 
what I have since seen of the ice in the Franklin Strait, 
that the chances were greatly in favor of our reaching Cape 
Herschel on the S. side of King William's Land, by pass- 
ing (as I intended to do) eashoard of that island. 

From Bellot Strait to Cape Victoria we found a mixture 
of old and new ice, showing the exact proportion of pack and 
of clear water at the setting in of winter. Once to the 
southward of the Tasmania Group, I think our chief diffi- 
culty would have been overcome ; and south of Cape Vic- 
toria I doubt whether any further obstruction would have 
been experienced, as but little, if any, ice remained. The 
natives told us the ice went away, and left a clear sea every 
year. As our discoveries show the Victoria Strait to be 
but little more than 20 miles wide, the ice pressed south- 
ward through so narrow a space could hardly have pre- 
vented our crossing to Victoria Land, and Cambridge Bay, 
the wintering place reached by Collinson, from the west. 

No one who sees that portion of Victoria Strait which lies 
between King William's Island and Victoria Land, as we 
saw it, could doubt of there being but one way of getting 



240 NAVIGABLE K W. PASSAGE. Chap. XVI. 

a ship through it, that way being the extremely hazardous 
one of drift through in the pack. 

The wide channel between Prince of Wales' Land and 
Victoria Land admits a vast and continuous stream of very 
heavy ocean-formed ice, from the N. W., which presses upon 
the western face of King William's Island, and chokes up 
Victoria Strait in the manner I have just described. I do 
not think the North-West Passage could ever be sailed 
through by passing westward — that is, to windward — of 
King William's Island. 

If the season was so favorable for navigation as to open 
the northern part of this western sea* (as, for instance, in 
1846, when Sir John Franklin sailed down it), I think but 
comparatively little difficulty would be experienced in the 
more southern portion of it until Victoria Strait was 
reached. Had Sir John Franklin known that a channel ex- 
isted eastward of King William's Land (so named by Sir 
John Ross), I do not think he would have risked the beset- 
ment of his ships in such very heavy ice to the westward of 
it ; but had he attempted the north-west passage by the 
eastern route, he would probably have carried his ships 
safely through to Behring's Straits. But Franklin was 
furnished with charts which indicated no passage to the 
eastward of King William's Land, and made that land 
(since discovered by Rae to be an island) a peninsula 
attached to the continent of North America ; and he con- 
sequently had but one course open to him, and that the one 
he adopted. 

My own preference for the route by the east side of the 
island is founded upon the observations and experience of 
Rae and Collinson in 1851-2-4. I am of opinion that the 
barrier of ice off Bellot Strait, some 3 or 4 miles wide, was 



* This channel is now named after the illustrious navigator, Admiral 
Sir John Franklin. 



Jult, 1859. SCURVY. 241 

the only obstacle to our carrying the ' Fox,' according to 
my original intention, southward to the Great Fish River, 
passing east of King William's Island, and from thence to 
a wintering position on Yictoria Land. Perhaps some 
future voyager, profiting by the experience so fearfully and 
fatally acquired by the Franklin expedition, and the obser- 
vations of Rae, Collinson, and myself, may succeed in 
carrying his ship through from sea to sea : at least he will 
be enabled to direct all his efforts in the true and only 
direction. In the meantime to Franklin must be assigned 
the earliest discovery of the North-West Passage, though 
not the actual accomplishment of it in his ships.* 

Saturday, 2nd July. — Upon my arrival on board on the 
morning of the 19th June, my first inquiries were about 
Hobson ; I found him in a worse state than I expected. 
He reached the ship on the 14th, unable to walk, or even 
stand without assistance; but already he was beginning to 
amend, and was in excellent spirits. Christian had shot 
several ducks, which, with preserved potato, milk, strong 
ale, and lemon-juice, completed a very respectable dietary 
for a scurvy-stricken patient. All the rest were tolerably 
well ; slight traces only of scurvy in two or three of the 
men. The ship was as clean and trim as I could expect, 
and all had well and cheerfully performed their duties during 
my absence ; hardly any game had been shot, except one 
bear. 

The Doctor now acquainted me with the death of Thomas 



* This will be understood when it is recollected that W. of Simpson's 
Straits or Victoria Land, a navigable passage to Behring's Straits is 
known to exist along the coast of North America. Franklin himself, 
with his companion Richardson, surveyed by far the greater portion of 
that distance. Franklin's and Parry's discoveries overlap each other ia 
longitude, and for the last thirty years or more the discovery of tha 
North-West Passage has been reduced to the discovery of a link uniting- 
the two. 

16 



242 ANXIETY FOR YOUNG. Chap. XVI. 

Blackwell, ship's steward, which occurred only five days 
previously, and was occasioned by scurvy. This man had 
scurvy when I left the ship in April, and no means were 
left untried by the Doctor to promote the recovery and 
rally his deponding energies ; but his mind, unsustained by 
hope, lost all energy, and at last he had to be forcibly taken 
upon deck for fresh air. For months past the ship's spirits 
had been of necessity removed from under his control. 

"When too late his shipmates made it known that he had 
a dislike to preserved meats, and had lived the whole winter 
upon salt pork ! He also disliked preserved potato, and 
would not eat it unless watched, nor would he put on clean 
clothes which others in charity prepared for him. Yet his 
death was somewhat unexpected ; he went on deck as usual 
to walk in the middle of the day, and, when found there, 
was quite dead. His remains were buried beside those of 
our late shipmate Mr. Brand. 

The news of our success to the soutHward in tracing the 
footsteps of the lost expedition greatly revived the spirits 
of my small crew ; we wished only for the safe and speedy 
return of Young and his party. 

Captain Young commenced his spring explorations on 
the 1th April, with a sledge party of four men, and a second 
sledge drawn by six dogs under the management of our 
Greenlander, Samuel ; finding in his progress that a channel 
existed between Prince of Wales' Land and Victoria Land 
whereby his discovery and search would be lengthened, he 
sent back one sledge, the tent, and four men to the ship, in 
order to economise provisions, and for forty days journeyed 
with one man (George Hobday) and the dogs, encamping 
in such snow lodges as they were able to build. 

This great exposure and fatigue, together with extremely 
bad weather, and a most difficult coastline to trace, greatly 
injured his health ; he was compelled to return to the ship 
on tth June for medical aid, but proposing at all hazards 



July, 1859. SEARCH FOB, CAPTAIN YOUNG. 243 

to renew his explorations almost immediately. Dr. Walker 
met this determination by a strong protest in writing 
against his leaving the ship again, his health being quite 
unequal to it ; but after three days Young felt himself some- 
what better, and, with a zeal which knew no bounds, set off 
to complete his branch of the search, taking with him both 
his sledge parties. 

From the Doctor's account I felt most anxious for his 
return, lest his health, or that of his companions, should 
receive permanent injury; in fact this was now. my only 
cause of anxiety. The season was rather forward here, and 
advancing with unusual rapidity, rain and wind dissolving 
the snow and ice ; there was much water in Bellot Strait, 
extending from Half-way Island eastward to the table-land, 
and thence in a narrow lane to Long Island. After a day or 
two I could perceive a vast improvement in Hobson ; and 
my own four men, with the exception of Hampton, who re- 
quired rest, were in sound health ; so also was my com- 
panion Petersen. On 24th June Christian shot two small 
reindeer, which gave us 1?0 lbs. of meat; a few days 
before that he shot a seal, which afforded two sumptuous 
meals for all on board. 

The time having elapsed during which Young expected 
to remain absent, and the difficulties of the transit from the 
western sea having become greatly increased, I set off early 
on the 25th June with my four men, intending to visit Pern- 
mican Rock; but failing to come across hirn there, Ire- 
solved to carry on provisions as far as Four River Point, in 
the hope of meeting with him, and facilitating his return. 
To our surprise the water had all drained off the frozen 
surface of the Long Lake, and it therefore afforded excel- 
lent travelling. We found the poor dogs lying quietly be- 
side our sledges ; they had attacked the pern mican, and de- 
voured a small quantity which was not secured in tin, also 
some blubber, some leather straps, and a gull that I had 



244 TREATMENT OF DOaS. Chap. XVI. 

shot for a specimen ; but they had not apparently relished 
the biscuit. Poor dogs ! they have a hard life of it in these 
regions. Even Petersen, who is generally kind and humane, 
seems to fancy they must have little or no feeling : one of his 
theories is, that you may knock an Esquimaux dog about 
the head with any article, however heavy, with perfect im- 
punity to the brutes. One of us upbraided him the other 
day because he broke his whip-handle over the head of a 
dog. " That was nothing at all," he assured us : some 
friend of his in Greenland found he could beat his dogs 
over the head with a heavy hammer, — it stunned them cer- 
tainly, — but by laying them with their mouths open to the 
wind, they soon revived, got up and ran about "all right." 

We lost no time in giving them a good feed, the first for 
seven days, yet they did not seem unusually hungry, and 
soon coiled themselves up to sleep again. Whilst the men 
and dogs were employed next day in conveying a sledge to 
the east end of the lake, I walked to Cape Bird to look out 
for the absent party, but they had not yet returned to Pem- 
mican Rock. 

When vainly endeavoring, with felonious intentions, to 
climb up a steep cliff to the breeding-places of some silvery 
gulls, I saw and shot a brent goose, seated upon an acces- 
sible ledge, and made a prize of four eggs ; it seems strange 
that this bird should have selected so unusual a breeding- 
place. Many seals were basking on the ice, and the water- 
course by which our sledges ascended a week before to the 
Long Lake was now a strong and rapid stream. A few 
reindeer were seen. 

On the 27th I sent three of the men back to the ship, and 
with Thompson and the dogs went on to Pemmican Rock, 
where, to our great joy, we happily met Young and his 
party, who had but just returned there, after a long and 
successful journey the particulars of which I will give here- 
after. 



July, 1859. YOUNG EETUENS SAFELY. 245 

Young was greatly reduced in flesh and strength, so much 
weakened indeed that for the last few days he had travelled 
on the dog-sledge ; Harvey — also far from well — could just 
manage to keep pace with the sledge ; his malady was 
scurvy. Their journeys had been very depressing ; most 
dismal weather, low, dreary limestone shores devoid of 
game, and no traces of the lost expedition. The news of 
oar success in the southern journeys greatly cheered them. 
On the following day we were all once more on board, and 
indulging in such rapid consumption of eatables as only 
those can do who have.been much reduced by long-contin 
ued fatigue and exposure to cold. Venison, ducks, beer 
and lemon-juice, daily ; preserved apples and cranberries 
three times 5a week; and pickled whaleskin — a famous anti- 
scorbutic — ad libitum for all who liked it. The weather, 
which for the last week had been wet, windy, and miserable, 
now set in fair. The carpenter's hammer, and the men's 
voices at their work, were new and animating sounds. 



246 SIGNS OP RELEASE. Chap. XVIL 



CHAPTER XYII. 

Signs of release — Dearth of animal life — Owl is good beef — Beat out of 
winter quarters — Our game-list — Reach Pury Beach — Escape from Re- 
gent's Inlet — In Baffin's Bay — Captain Allen Young's journey — Disco; 
sad disappointment — Part from our Esquimaux friends — Adieu to 
Greenland — Arrive home. *■ 

To-DAY (2nd July) I took a long and delightful walk, 
but shot only two ducks ; Petersen went in another direc- 
tion, and got nothing; Christian, after toiling all day in his 
kayak, returned with only two divers and a duck. Lately 
he has obtained for us several king and long-tailed ducks 
(no eider-ducks have been seen); two red-throated divers, 
and two brent geese, and caught an ermine in its summer 
coat. Yesterday one of the men brought on board a trout 
weighing 2 lbs ; he saw a glaucous gull and a fox disputing 
for it ; the former seems to have killed and brought it to 
land. 

The water now washes the south side of the Fox Islands, 
and extends to the south point of Long Island. The month 
of June has been somewhat warmer than usual, its mean 
temperature being -f 35^°. 

9th. — The ship has been thoroughly cleaned and re- 
stowed, remaining • provisions examined, tanks filled with 
fresh water, 12 tons of stone ballast taken in, and every- 
thing brought on board that was landed last autumn. Hob- 
son is the only one upon the sick list ; but he is able to 
walk about and does duty. Yery few birds, and only one 
small seal, have been obtained during the week ; an occa- 
sional great northern diver is seen, and a rare land bird, has 



July, 1859.- DEARTH OF ANIMAL LIFE. 24f 

been shot. We cannot discover the nests of either ducks 
or geese, and the breeding cliffs of the gulls being inacces- 
sible, we have not got any eggs. I am a close prisoner at 
the corner of my table, poring over my observation and 
angle book, and have at length laid down upon paper the 
west coast of King William's Land to my satisfaction. 
Tidal observations are commenced ; and the aneroid and 
mercurial barometers are again being compared in order to 
verify the former. 

16^/i. Saturday night. — We are now almost ready for 
sea. There is now a much larger space of water in Bellot 
Strait, reaching within 300 or 400 yards of us. Long 
cracks or lanes of water have been seen in Prince Regent's 
Inlet. The decay of the ice continues, though not with 
equal rapidity, yet with very satisfactory despatch. Westerly 
winds and clear weather prevail. Christian has seen two 
reindeer this week, and has shot a very few birds, and seven 
seals. As these creatures lie basking upon the ice, he 
crawls up to them behind a small calico screen, fitted upon 
a miniature sledge about a foot long, on which there is a 
rest fur the muzzle of his rifle, and a slit in the calico, 
through which he fires it. The seals afford an average 
weight of thirty pounds of excellent fresh meat, which we 
relish greatly, and consider much better suited to our pre- 
sent condition than such poor venison as reindeer would 
furnish at this season. A single hare has been shot ; the 
white fur has nearly all disappeared, and left exposed the 
summer coat of dull lead color. Several small birds not 
common to the northward are found here. Insects abound ; 
the Doctor is perpetually in chase, unless busily occupied 
in grubbing up plants. Young is surveying the harbor. 
Hobson fully occupied in preparing the ship for sea. I have 
been giving some attention to the engines and boiler, and 
hope, with the help of the two stokers, to be able to make 
use of our steam power 



248 CAIRN BUILT. Cbap. XVII. 

The men have received my hearty thanks for their great 
exertions during the traveling period. I told them I con- 
sidered every part of our search to have been fully and effi- 
ciently performed. Our labors have determined the exact 
position of the extreme northern promontory of the conti- 
nent of America; I have affixed to it the name of Murchi- 
son, after the distinguished President of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society — the strenuous advocate for this " further 
search" — and the able champion of Lady Franklin when 
she needed all the support which private friendship and 
public spirit could bestow. 

22rd. — The ice in Prince Regent's Inlet is broken up 
into pack, but the prevalence of easterly winds keeps it 
close upon the shore. The ice about us is very much de- 
cayed, holes through it in many places. No reindeer seen 
this week, and only two Seals procured ; one of them shot 
by Christian, the other was killed by a bear, which ran off 
before Samuel could come within shot of him. A fox, a 
gull, a couple of ducks, and one or two lemmings, complete 
our game list for the week, yet our two Esquimaux are inde- 
fatigable in the pursuit. We eat all the birds and seals we 
can shoot, as well as mustard and cress as fast as we can 
grow it, but the quantity is very small. We sometimes re- 
fresh ourselves with a salad of sorrel leaves, or roots of the 
little plant with lilac flower of snapdragon shape, named 
Pedicularis hir^suta. 

The seine has been hauled in the narrow lake at the head 
of the harbor, but as it was not well managed, only a dozen 
small trout were taken, though several were seen. We have 
tried for rock-cod, but without success. The relics of the 
lost expedition have been aired, exhibited to the crew, label- 
led, and packed away. The Doctor has been dredging lately. 
A record detailing our proceedings has been placed in a 
cairn upon the west point of Depot Bay. 

1st August — A long continuance of unusually calm, 



Aug. 1359. OUT OP WINTER QUARTERS. 249 

bright, and warm weather has been favorable to our paint- 
ing and cleaning the ship, scraping masts, and so forth, 
the result is that she looks unusually smart and gay, and 
our impatience to exhibit her, and ourselves at home is 
much increased. With the exception of a few gulls, and a 
duck, our hunters have shot nothing lately, although con- 
stantly out, either darting about in their kayaks or ranging 
over the hills ; in fact there is nothing which they can 
shoot ; the ducks are tolerably numerous, but extremely 
wild ; the valleys are respectably clothed with vegetation, 
yet only one animal — a hare — has been seen. I was so for- 
tunate as to shoot a snowy owl, the flesh of which was white 
and tender, but to my palate, tasteless, although Petersen 
considers that " owl is the best beef in the country." 

On Thursday night we found the harbor-ice to be quietly 
drifting out, of course taking us with it. The night was 
calm, the current in Bellot Strait was very strong : we were 
almost helpless under the circumstances, and therefore felt 
the danger of our position. To warp the ship along the ice- 
edge, out of the way of the shore and rocks as it turned 
round and drifted along the cliffs to the westward, gave us 
some hours' occupation. At length it stuck fast between 
Fox Island and the main. 

At turn of tide on Friday morning it began to drift east- 
ward, and by this time being much broken up, and a breeze 
coming to our aid, we managed to extricate ourselves and 
reach a secure anchorage in Point Kennedy. 

On Saturday night some ice that was left came drifting 
out of the inner harbor, and obliged us to slip our cable; 
but after a few hours we regained our berth in safety, and 
have since been undisturbed. There is no immediate pros- 
pect of escape, but we expect a prodigious smashing up of 
the ice whenever a strong wind springs up to set it in mo- 
tion. To-day the steam was got up, and with the help of 
our two stokers I worked the engines for a short time. It 



250 "WAITING TO ESCAPE. Chap. XVII. 

is very cheering to know that we still have steam power at 
our' command, although, by the deaths of poor Mr. Brand 
and Robert Scott, we were deprived of our engineer and 
engine-driver. 

The mean temperature for July has been 40° "14, which 
is above the average for this region ; the July temperatures 
have usually varied from 36° to 42°. 

All are now in good health, but Hobson still a little lame. 
The issue of lemon-juice has been reduced to the ordinary 
allowance of half an ounce daily (as we have but little that 
is really good), lest another winter should become inevitable, 
which, I can devoutly say, may God forbid ! 

Monday niyht, 8th. — Yery anxiously awaiting an oppor- 
tunity to escape. We have constantly watched the ice from 
the neighboring hills, including the lofty summit of Mount 
Walker — named after the Doctor, who was the first to ascend 
it (1123 feet) — from which Fury Point can be distinguished, 
but nothing very cheering has been seen. We had a N. E. 
gale, accompanied by rain and a considerable fall of the ba- 
rometer, a few days ago ; and as it blew freshly from the 
westward this morning, I went to a hill-top and saw that 
much ice had. been broken up in Brentford Bay, and that 
there were streaks of water along the land between Posses- 
sion Point and Hazard Inlet; this water, however, was not 
accessible to us. 

The ice about Pemmican Rock was much in the same po- 
sition as we found it last year, but Bellot Strait was perfectly 
clear. All the ice in this harbor, in Depot Bay, and Hazard 
Inlet, is goae, by far the greater part having decayed, not 
drifted away. 

Later in the day and from loftier hill-tops, a good deal of 
water was seen off Cape Garry, and a water-sky beyond. 
It now blows very strongly from the S. W., the most desir- 
able quarter; and as the anxious desire to escape has be- 
come oppressive, it is not to be wondered at that now our 



Aug. 1859. 



GAME LIST. 



251 



hopes have become extravagant. We may even make a 
start to-morrow ! On the other hand, a careful examination 
of our provision store shows that, should we be obliged to 
spend another winter here, we must curtail our allowance 
of meat — fresh and salt — to three-quarters of a pound, and 
have to use but very indifferent lemon-juice. The spirits, 
I rejoice to say, will very shortly be entirely expended. 

On the morning of the 3d instant, when the rain ceased 
and 1ST. B. gale sprang up, two claps of thunder were dis- 
tinctly heard ; this occurs but very rarely in these latitudes. 
There is ample occupation for the men but not much for the 
officers ; as for myself, I write a great deal, and work occa- 
sionally at our chart of discoveries; the only refreshment I 
indulge in is an occasional dive into packets of old letters. 
All yesterday the harbor was full of ice set in by southerly 
and westerly winds, and so closely packed that one might 
have walked over it to the shore ; to-day it has nearly all 
-drifted out again. The subjoined list will show what game 
we have been able to obtain by constant and arduous labor 
from the resources of these regions during nearly two years' 
sojourn. 

Game List. 



8 Months in the Pack, 1857-8. 



Bears. , Seals, i Dovekies. I Foxes. 
2 73 38 1 



11 Months in Port Kennedy, 1S.J8-9. 



Bears. I Deer. I Hares. I Foxes. iPtai-mi-| Wild .Seals. 
gan. Fowl. 
2 8 9 19 82 98 18 



At Port Kennedy several ermines and lemmings were also caught. 
The ptarmigan all disappeared after 1st April. 
Only 2 dovekies were seen, 1 in winter and 1 in summer plumage 
A few seals were seen as early as the month of February. 
Duck?, geese, and gulls, were the usual kind of wild fowl killed. 
During the four months occupied in sailing from Davis Strait to Bellot 
Strait, many looms and rotchies, and 5 or 6 bears were shot. 



Wednesday, 10th. — The S. W. wind proved a good friend 
to us ; by the morning of the 9th it had moved the Ice off 
shore, and cleared away a passage for us out of Brentford 



252 TRACES OF OUR VISIT. Chap. XVII. 

Bay. We started under steam at eleven o'clock yesterday 
morning, and, passing round Long Island, made sail along 
the land towards Cape Garry, there being a channel about 
2 or 3 miles wide between the pack and the shore. 

The wind now failed us, and I experienced some little 
difficulty in the management of the engines and boiler ; the 
latter primed so violently as to send the water over our top 
gallant yard, and the tail valve of the condenser by some 
means had got out of its seat, and admitted air to the con- 
denser ; but eventually we got the engines to work well, and 
steamed across Cresswell Bay during the night. The pack 
rested against Fury Point, and an east wind springing up, 
we made fast to a large grounded mass of ice in Adelaide 
Bay, about \ mile off shore, and in 3 fathoms water, at 
eleven o'clock this morning. Having managed the engines 
for twenty-four consecutive hours, I was not sorry to get 
into bed. We were hardly out of Brentford Bay when ful- 
mar petrels and white whales were seen ; the first we have 
noticed for eleven and a half months. Dovekies are like- 
wise abundant, and a seal has already been shot. Cress- 
well Bay is perfectly clear of ice, but this pale limestone 
land is the perfection of sterility, even with the rugged hills 
of Brentford Bay in lively recollection. 

Upon the east side of Port Kennedy the bones of whales 
were found in two places a mile apart from each other; the 
lowest of them was 180 feet above the sea, the second was 
more than 300 feet high. The latter I examined, and found 
a jawbone, two ribs, a joint of the vertebrae, and fragments 
of other bones, all more or less buried in the soil, and much 
heavier than the bones of a recent animal ; they lay within 
40 or 60 yards of each other, and upon a little flat patch of 
rather rich earth, a rocky hill above, and steep slope below; 
. — they are also nearly a mile inland. 

Of the traces which we have left behind us, the most con- 
siderable are the graves of our two shipmates within the 



Atjq. 1859. A WHITE WHALE SHOT. 253 

western point of our little harbor; they were tastefully 
sodded round, and planted over with the usual Arctic flow- 
ers. There is our record in a conspicuous cairn at the west 
point of Depot or Transition Bay : we left also three cases 
of peramican near the east end of the Long Lake, and our 
traveling boat near its west end, at .the head of False 
Strait. 

Monday, 15th. — Strong east winds, with much rain, have 
imprisoned us here for the last four days, and driven the 
whole pack close in, completely filling up Cresswell Bay. 
"We remain fast to the grounded ice, which shields us from 
pressure, otherwise we should have been driven irretrievably 
on shore. A couple more seals and a white whale have 
been shot ; the latter measured 13^- feet long, and proved to 
be a female of ordinary dimensions, and of an uniform cream 
color ; the eyes are extremely small, and orifices of the ears 
scarcely large enough to admit a crow-quill. We dined off 
steaks of the flesh, and prefer it to seal, which it very much 
resembles, but it is not quite so tender ; the skin is greatly 
prized by the Greenlanders as an antiscorbutic ; it is a sort 
of gristly gelatinous substance, nearly half an inch thick, 
and possessing very little taste ; fried and eaten with 
fish-sauce, it reminded me of cod sound, though not so 
good. 

The blubber fills two twenty-gallon casks ; it produces 
oil of a quality superior to seal oil ; not an ounce of the 
flesh or skin of this huge animal has been thrown away, the 
men having a wholesome dread of scurvy, and unbounded 
confidence in " blood-meat," such as this ! The Doctor has 
picked up a few fossils very similar to those formerly 
brought home from Port Leopold. 

To our great joy the east wind died away this morning, 
and immediately a west wind sprang np, which very quickly 
freshened to a smart gale. At four o'clock this afternoon 
we were able to make sail, the ice having moved about 3 



254 PASS FURY BEACH. Chap. XVII. 

miles off shore. Passed within a mile of Fury Beach two 
hours afterward, and saw the framing of the house, the boats 
and casks very distinctly. 

1*1 th. — After passing Fury Beach it fell, calm, so we 
steamed up as far as Batty Bay. On Tuesday afternoon we 
were off Port Leopold, running fast, when thick fog came 
on, and we got involved in loose ice, and seriously damaged 
our rudder. The boats and stores at Port Leopold ap- 
peared to remain as we left them last year. The flag-staff 
on the summit of the North-east Cape (over Whale Point) 
is still standing, but not erect. 

Fog and ice obstructed our progress during the night; 
but this morning when I came on deck at eight o'clock, the 
day was bright, clear, and charming ; no ice visible, except 
about Leopold Island, which was now some miles behind us. 
Towards evening the wind became contrary. 

Sunday evening, 21st. — At sea — out of sight of land ! 

On the 19th we were somewhat delayed by loose ice off 
Cape Hay, but by noon yesterday were close off Cape 
Burney, and whilst almost becalmed there, a mother bear 
swam off to us with two interesting cubs about the size of 
very large dogs. Foolish creatures ! a volley of rifles de- 
cided their fate in a very few seconds. Not finding any 
•whaling vessels off Pond's Inlet, the land-ice which shelters 
the whales having all disappeared, we therefore concluded 
that the whalers had left in consequence, so, without seeking 
for them further south, at once changed our course for 
Disco. 

To-day only a few icebergs have been seen. There is a 
good deal of swell, so we tumble about. Roast veal has 
appeared amongst the delicacies of our table since the bat- 
tue of yesterday, and Christian has asked for a portion of 
the old bear to carry home to his mother. Bear's flesh is 
really considered a delicacy in Greenland. 

2oth. — Becalmed off Hare Island, and getting the steam 



Aua. 1859. - CAPTAIN YOUNG'S JOURNEY. 255 

ready. We are only 108 miles from Godhavn, and the 
anxiety to clutch our letters has become intolerable. No 
pack-ice has been met with in our passage across Baffin's 
Bay, but many icebergs. This morning the lofty snow-clad 
land of Noursoak and Disco was beautifully distinct ; and 
at the same time the wind died away, leaving us, at least, 
the opportunity to contemplate at our leisure their gloomy 
grandeur. 

2Qth. — Steamed for ten hours last night. Fair winds and 
calms have alternated since then, but this evening we are 
within 20 miles, and hope soon to get into port. I have 
been reading over Young's report of his spring journey. It 
comprises seventy-eight days of sledge-traveling, and cer- 
tainly under most discouraging circumstances. Leaving the 
ship on the 7th April, he crossed the western strait to 
Prince of Wales' Land, and thence traced its shore to the 
south and west. On reaching its southern termination — 
Cape Swinburne, so named in honor of Rear-Admiral 
Swinburne, a much-esteemed friend of Sir J. Franklin, and 
one of the earliest supporters of this final expedition- -he 
describes the land as extremely low and deeply covered with 
snow, the heavy grounded hummocks which fringed its mo- 
notonous coast alone indicating the line of demarcation 
betwixt land and sea. To the north-east of this terminal 
cape the sea was covered with level floe formed in the fall 
of last year, whilst all to the north-westward of the same 
cape was pack consisting of heavy ice-masses, formed per- 
haps years ago in far distant and wider seas. 

Young attempted to cross the channel which he discovered 
between Prince of Wales' Island and "Victoria Land ; but 
from the rugged nature of the ice, found it quite impracti- 
cable with the means and time remaining at his disposal. 
Young expresses his firm conviction that this channel is so 
constantly choked up with unusually heavy ice as to be quite 
unnavigable ; it is, in fact a continuous ice-stream from the 



256 CAPTAIN YOUNG'S JOURNEY. Chap. XVII. 

]ST. W. His opinion coincides with my own, and with those 
of Captains Omanney and Osborn, when those officers ex- 
plored the north-western shores of Prince of Wales' Land 
in 1851. 

Fearing that his provisions might run short, he sent back 
one sledge with four men, and continued his march with 
only one man and the dogs for forty days ! They were 
obliged to build a snow-hut each night to sleep in, as the 
tent was sent back with the men ; but latterly, when the 
weather became more mild, they preferred sleeping on the 
sledge, as the constructing of a snow-hut usually occupied 
them for two hours. Young completed the exploration of 
this coast beyond the point marked upon the charts as Os- 
born's farthest, up nearly to lat. ?3° IS"., but no cairn was 
found. Young, however, recognized the remarkably shaped 
conical hills spoken of by Osborn, when he, at his farthest, 
in 1851, struck off to the westward. 

The coast-line throughout was extremely low ; and in the 
thick, disagreeable weather which he almost constantly ex- 
perienced, it was often a matter of great difficulty to pre- 
vent straying off the coast-line inland. He commenced his 
return on the 1 1th May, and reached the ship on 7th of 
June, in wretched health and depressed in spirits. 

Directly his health was partially re-established, he, in 
spite of the Doctor's remonstrances, as I have before said, 
again set out on the 10th with his party of men and dogs, 
to complete the exploration of both shores of the continua- 
tion of Peel Sound, between the position of the ' Fox' and 
the points reached by Sir James Ross in 1849, and Lieuten- 
ant Browne in 1851. This he accomplished without find-- 
ing any trace of the lost expedition, and the parties were 
again onboard by 28th June. The ice traveled over in this 
last journey was almost all formed last autumn. 

The extent of coast-line explored by Captain Young 
amounts to 380 miles, whilst that discovered by Hobson and 



Aug. 1859. HOBSON'S JOUKNEY 25 1 

myself amounts to nearly 420 miles, making a total of 800 
geographical miles of new coast-line which we have laid 
down. 

Hobson's report is a minute record of all that occurred 
during his journey of seventy-four days, and includes a list 
of all the relics brought on board, or seen by him. He suf- 
fered very severely in health : when only ten days out from 
the ship, traces of scurvy appeared ; when a month absent 
he walked lame; towards the latter end of the journey he 
was compelled to allow himself to be dragged upon the 
sledge, not being able to walk more than a few yards at a 
time ; and on arriving at the ship on the 14th of June, poor 
Hobson was unable to stand. How strongly this bears upon 
the last sad march of the lost crews 1 And yet Hobson's 
food throughout the whole journey was pemmican of the 
very best quality, the most nutritious description of food 
that we know of, and varied occasionally by such game as 
they were able to shoot. In spite of this fresh-meat diet, 
scurvy advanced with rapid strides. 

After leaving me at Cape Victoria, he says — " No diffi- 
culty was experienced in crossing James Koss' Strait. The 
ice appeared to be of but one year's growth ; and although 
it was in many places much crushed up, we easily found 
smooth leads through the lines of hummocks ; many very 
heavy masses of ice, evidently of foreign formation, have 
been here arrested in their drift : so large are they that, in 
the gloomy weather we experienced, they were often taken 
for islands." 

Again, at Cape Felix, he observes, — " The pressure of 
the ice is severe, but the ice itself is not remarkably heavy 
in character ; the shoalness of the coast keeps the line of 
pressure at considerable distance from the beach ; to the 
northward of the island the ice, as far as I could see, was 
very rough, and crushed up into large masses." Here we 
notice the gradual change in the character of the ice as 
17 



258 RETURN TO GODHAVN. Chap. XVII. 

Hobson left the Boothian shore and advanced towards Vic- 
toria Strait. The "very heavy masses of ice, evidently of 
foreign formation," had drifted in from the 3S". W. through 
M'Clure Strait ; Victoria Strait was full of it ; and Hob- 
son's description of the ice he passed over clearly illustrates 
how Franklin, leaving clear water behind him, pressed his 
ships into the pack when he attempted to force through 
Victoria Strait. How very different the result might and 
probably ivould have been had he known of the existence of 
a ship-channel, skeltered by King William Island from this 
tremendous " polar pack" ! 

Hobson left King William's Island on the last day of 
May, having spent thirty-one days on its desolate shores. 
During that period one bear and five willow grouse were 
shot ; one wolf and a few foxes were seen. One poor fox 
was either so desperately hungry, or so charmed with the rare 
sight of animated beings, that he played about the party 
until the clogs snapped him up, although iu harness and 
dragging the sledge at the time. A few gulls were seen, 
but not until after the first week in June. 

I have already explained how Hobson found the records 
and the boat : he exercised his discretionary power with 
sound judgment, and completed his search so well, that in 
coming over the same ground after him, I could not discover 
any trace that had escaped him. 

I quite agree with him that there may be many small ar- 
ticles beneath the snow; but that cairns, graves, or any 
conspicuous objects could exist upon so low and uniform a 
shore, without our having seen them, is almost impossible. 

Sunday evening, 29£7i. — Calm, warm, lovely weather; 
and we are thoroughly enjoying it in the quiet security of 
Lively harbor, or Grodhavn. Although Friday night was 
dark, we managed to find out the harbor's mouth, and 
slowly steamed into it. The inhabitants were awoke by 
Petersen demanding our letters, but great indeed was our 



Aus. 1859. LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 259 

disappointment at finding only a very few letters and two 
or three papers, and these for the officers only ! It appears 
that on the arrival of the whalers in early spring, the ice 
prevented their usual communication with the settlement, 
therefore the letters on board of them were unavoidably car- 
ried northward. Some few, however, which came out in the 
' Truelove,' were landed at the neighboring settlement of 
Noursoak, and from thence were sent back to Godhavn. 

It is rather a nervous thing opening the first letters aftei 
a lapse of more than two years. We received them in oui 
beds at three o'clock in the morning ; and when we met at 
breakfast were able, thank God ! to congratulate each other 
upon the receipt of cheering home news. Lady Franklin and 
Miss Cracroft wrote to me from Bournemouth in March 
last. They have traveled more than we have, I think, having 
visited almost all the countries bordering the Mediterranean 
and Black Seas, posted through the Crimea, and steamed 
up the Danube 1 I am much gratified to learn that I have 
been elected a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron during 
my absence. 

Yesterday morning I called upon the inspector, Mr. 
Olrik, who has been home to Denmark since I saw him last 
spring. In the autumn he took Mrs. Olrik and his family 
to Copenhagen, and had but just returned alone. He re- 
ceived me with his usual kindness, and promised me such 
[supplies as we require. It so happens that none of my ex- 
pected business letters have arrived, so that I am not ac- 
credited in the slightest degree, nor is there any hint thrown 
out as to where I am to take the 'Fox.' Mr. Olrik ga^e 
me a large bundle of 'Illustrated London News,' which was 
exceedingly acceptable, and told us that Austria was at war 
with France and Sardinia. By the latest news a battle had 
been fought and won by the latter Powers. Most fortu- 
nately a 'Navy List,' had come out to Hobson, otherwise I 
think we should have been utterly brokenhearted. "We study 



260 LEAVING GODHAVN. Chap. XVII. 

its pages daily, and delight in noticing the advancement of 
our many friends. 

1st Sept., Thursday night. — At sea, on the passage, and 
already enjoying by anticipation, the pleasures of home ! 
Five busy days were spent in Godhavn, supplying our little 
wants, in as far as they could be supplied, including 100 
gallons of light beer. The natives were very useful, the 
men bringing off water, stone-ballast, and sand, and a 
troop of Esquimaux girls scrubbing the paintwork and the 
decks. 

Each evening the men went on shore, taking with them 
a very limited quantity of rum-punch for the ladies, and 
danced for several hours in a large store ; whilst the officers 
and myself spent the time with Mr. Olrik of the other 
Danish gentlemen — Messrs. Andersen, Bulbrue, and Tyner. 
Nothing could exceed their kindness to us, whilst their 
good humor and their anecdotes, sometimes expressed in 
quaint English, greatly amused us. We shall always retain 
very agreeable recollections of Godhavn ; twice has it been 
to us an Arctic home. 

Mr. Petersen's nieces, the belles of the place, came on 
board (Miss Sophia with scented cambric handkerchief and 
gloves — in other respects, she adheres to the Esquimaux 
costume) ; they were pleased with the organ, although it is 
out of repair, and they sang together very sweetly for us. 
Our Esquimaux shipmates, Christian and Samuel, were dis- 
charged, and, by their own request their wages given- in 
charge to Mr. Olrik and Mr. Bulbrue ; they seemed to un- 
derstand the importance of husbanding their wealth. Chris- 
tian said he thought it would not be all spent under three 
years. First of all he intended buying a rifle for his 
brother, and then some wood to build a house for himself. 

I was gratified very much when I heard them say that 
the men had treated them very well — "all the same as 
brothers ;" and they really seemed sorry to leave the ship; 



Aug. 1359. VOYAGE HOME. 261 

they would come on board and look gravely about at every 
thing as if regretting the coming separation. Even our 
poor clogs seemed to think the ship their natural abode ; 
although landed at the settlement, they soon ran round the 
harbor to the point nearest the ship, and there, upon the 
rocks, spent the whole period of our stay. 

On Tuesday night we set off some fireworks on shore to 
amuse the natives, for I intended sailing next day, but the 
wind prevented my doing so. The last day was spent in 
the interchange of presents between our Danish friends and 
ourselves ; indeed, the sincere hearty good feeling which 
existed between every individual in the 'Fox' and the in- 
habitants of the settlement was as gratifying as apparent. 
Almost the only fresh supplies obtained here were rock-cod 
and salmon-trout from Disco fiord. During our stay the 
weather was delightful ; indeed it was the first really fine 
weather they had experienced at Godhavn during the pre- 
sent season, the summer having been cold and wet. 

10th Sept., Saturday night. — To-day we passed to the 
eastward of Cape Farewell, but about 100 miles to the 
south of it. The last iceberg was seen to-day ; and now 
we are running along swiftly before a pleasant ~N.W. breeze. 
Hitherto we have had every variety of wind and weather, 
from a calm to a gale, but generally the wind has been fa- 
vorable. The change of temperature is already perceptible. 

Saturday night, 11th Sept. — A week of favorable gales 
has brought us from Cape Farewell to within 400 miles of 
Land's End, or about 1100 miles of distance. But such 
rough weather is not pleasant in- so small a vessel, however 
much "like a duck" she may be; and our two years' sojourn 
in the still waters of the frozen North has made us very 
susceptible of the change. 



262 CONCLUSION. 



CONCLUSION. 



We sailed all the way home from Greenland, yet the 
'Fox' made the passage in only nineteen days, arriving in 
the English Channel on the 20th September; on the even- 
ing of the 21st I reached London (having landed at Ports- 
mouth), and made known to the Admiralty the result of my 
voyage. 

On the 23d September the 'Fox' was taken into dock at 
Blackwall ; and, through the kindness and promptitude of 
the Lords of the Admiralty, I was enabled on the 27th, 
when the crew were assembled for the last time, to present 
the Arctic medal to such of my companions as had not al- 
ready received it for previous Arctic service, and also to in- 
form Lieutenant Hobson that his promotion to the rank of 
Commander would speedily take place. 

I will not intrude upon the reader, who has followed me 
through the pages of this simple narrative, any description 
of my feelings on finding the enthusiasm with which we 
were all received on landing upon our native shores. The 
blessing of Providenee had attended our efforts, and more 
than a full measure of approval from our friends and coun- 
trymen has been our reward. For myself the testimonial 
given me by the officers and crew of the ' Fox' has touched 
me perhaps more than all. The purchase of a gold chrono- 
meter, for presentation to me, was the first use the men 
made of their earnings ; and as long as I live it will remind 
me of that perfect harmony, that mutual esteem and good- 
will, which made our ship's company a happy little commu- 



CONCLUSION 263 

nity, and contributed materially to the success of the expe- 
dition. 

The names I have given to my discoveries are, with the 
exception of those by which I have endeavored to honor 
the members of the lost expedition, the names of active sup- 
porters of the recent search, and friends of Franklin and his 
companions, though such names are far from exhausting the 
number of those who have the highest claims to distinction 
on both grounds. 

It will be observed that I have refrained from repeating 
names which have already been commemorated by preceding 
commanders, and which therefore are already in our charts. 
Besides the individuals already mentioned in the narrative, 
Sir Thomas D. Acland, one of the most zealous promoters 
of the search, both in and out of the House of Commons ; 
Monsieur De la Roquette, Vice-President of the Geograph- 
ical Society of Paris, and author of an interesting bio- 
graphy of Franklin ; Rear-Admiral Fitzroy ; and Major- 
General Pasley, P. E., stand high amongst those whom it 
has been my privilege to honor. 

Although much talent has been brought to bear upon the 
deciphering of the letters found in a pocketbook near Cape 
Herschell (page 248 ante), yet, from their being so very 
much defaced by time, only a few detached sentences have 
been made out, and these do not in the slightest degree 
refer to the proceedings of the lost expedition. 

It will be seen that I have noticed (page 260) the dis- 
crepancy between the number of souls accounted for by the 
Point Yietory Record, and the generally received opinion 
that 138 individuals sailed in the 'Erebus' and ' Terror.' 

I am now enabled to state, on the authority of the Ad- 
miralty, that only one hundred and thirty-four individuals 
left the United Kingdom, and of these five men subsequently 
returned: one by H. M. S. 'Rattler,' and four by the trans- 
port 'Barettoi Junior;' so that only one hundred and 



264 CONCLUSION. 

twenty-nine — the exact number mentioned in the record- 
actually entered the ice. The five invalids were — 

From H. M. S. ' Terror/ John Brown, Able seaman. 

" Robert Carr, Armorer. 

" James Elliot, Sailmaker. 

" "William Aitken, Marine. 

From H.M. S. 'Erebus/ Thomas Birt, Armorer. 

The relics we have brought home have been deposited by 
the Admiralty in the United Service Institution, and now 
form a national memento — the most simple and most touch- 
ing — of those heroic men who perished in the path of duty, 
but not until they had achieved the grand object of their 
voyage, — the Discovery of the North-West Passage. 

London, 2itTi Nov. 1859, 



APPENDIX. 



No. I. 

A LETTER TO VISCO¥NT PALMERSTON, K. G., &c, 
FROM LADY FRANKLIN. 

60 Pall Mall, December 2, 1856. 

My Lord, — 

I trust I may be permitted, as the widow of Sir John 
Franklin, to draw the attention of Her Majesty's Govern- 
ment to the unsettled state of a question which a few 
months ago was under their consideration, and to express a 
well-grounded hope that a final effort may be made to 
ascertain the fate and recover the remains of my husband's 
expedition. 

Your Lordship will allow me to remind you that a Me- 
morial * with this object in view (of which I enclose a 
printed copy) was early in June last presented to, and 
kindly received by you. It had been signed within forty- 
eight hours- by all the leading men of science then in. 
London who had an opportunity of seeing it, and might 
have received an indefinite augmentation of worthy names 
had not the urgency of the question forbidden delay. To 
the above names were appended those of the Arctic officers 
who had been personally engaged in the search, and who, 
though absent, were known to be favorable to another 

* See Appendix II. 

(265) 



266 APPENDIX. No. I. 

effort for its completion. And though that united applica- 
tion obtained no immediate result, it was felt, and by no one 
more strougly than myself, that it never could be utterly 
wasted. 

I venture also to allude to a letter of my own addressed 
to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty in April last, 
and a copy of which accompanied, I believe, the Memorial 
to your Lordship, wherein I earnestly deprecated any pre- 
mature adjudication of the reward claimed by Dr. Rae, on 
the ground that the fate of my husband's expedition was 
not yet ascertained, and that it was due both to the living 
and the dead to complete a search which had been hitherto 
pursued under the greatest disadvantage, for want of the 
clue which was now for the first time in our hands. 

The Memorial above alluded to, and my own letter of 
earlier date, had not yet received any reply, when, in the 
month of July, the Lords of the Admiralty caused prompt 
inquiries to be made as to the possibility of equipping a 
ship at that advanced season, in time for effective opera- 
tions in the field of search. The result was that it was 
pronounced to be too late, and the subject was dismissed 
for that season. 

Upon this I addressed a letter to the Board (of which I 
take the liberty to enclose a copy), respectfully showing 
that by this unfortunate delay the opportunity had also 
been taken from me of sending out a vessel at my own cost, 
a measure which I had previously felt myself obliged to 
state to their Lordships would be the alternative of any 
adverse decision on their part. I pleaded therefore, as the 
only remedy for the loss of an entire summer season, that 
the route by Behring Straits was by some of* the most com- 
petent Arctic officers considered preferable to the eastern 
route, and that the equipment of a vessel for this direction 
need not take place before the close of the year. 

In reply, their Lordships caused me to be informed that 



4 




WALRUSES A FAMILY PARTY. 

From a Sketch by Captain Allen Young. 



No. I. APPENDIX. 26T 

" they had come to the decision not to send any expedition 
to the Arctic regions in the present year." 

This communication, however, was in answer merely to 
my own letter. The Memorialists had as yet received no 
reply, and accordingly the President of the Royal Society 
put a question respecting the Memorial in the House of 
Lords at the close of the session, which drew from one of 
Her Majesty's Ministers (Lord Stanley), after some pre- 
liminary observations, the assurance that Her Majesty's 
Government would give the subject their serious considera- 
tion during the recess. I may be permitted to add, that, in 
the conversation which followed, Lord Stanley expressed 
himself as very favorably disposed towards a proposition 
made to him by Lord Wrottesley, that, in the event of there 
being no Government expedition, I should be assisted in 
fitting out my own expedition ; an assurance which Lord 
Wrottesley had the kindness to communicate to me by 
letter. 

But, my Lord, as nothing has occurred within the last 
few months to weaken the reasons which induced the Ad- 
miralty, early in July last, to contemplate another final 
effort, and as they put it aside at that time on the sole 
ground that it was too late to equip a vessel for that sea- 
son, I trust it will be felt that I am not endeavoring to re- 
open, a closed question, but merely to obtain the settlement 
of one which has not ceased to be, and is even now, under 
favorable consideration. The time has arrived, however, 
when I trust I maybe pardoned for pressing your Lordship, 
with whom I believe the question rests, for a decision, since 
by further delay even my own efforts may be paralyzed. 

I have cherished the hope, in common with others, that 
we are not waiting in vain. Should, however, that decision 
unfortunately throw upon me the responsibility and the cost 
of sending out a vessel myself, I beg to assure your Lord- 
ship that I shall not shrink, either from that weighty re- 



268 APPENDIX. No. L 

sponsibility, or from, the sacrifice of my entire available 
fortune for the purpose, supported as I am in my convic- 
tions by such high authorities as those whose opinions are 
on record in your Lordship's hands, and by the hearty sym- 
pathy of many more. 

But before I take upon myself so heavy an obligation, it 
is my bounden duty to entreat her Majesty's Government 
not to disregard the arguments which have led so many 
competent and honorable men to feel that our country's 
honor is not satisfied, whilst a mystery which has excited 
the sympathy of the civilized world, remains uncleared. 
Nor less would I entreat you to consider what must be the 
unsatisfactory consequences, if any endeavors should be 
made to quench all further efforts for this object. 

It cannot be that this long-vexed question would thereby 
be set at rest, for it would still be true that in a certain cir- 
cumscribed area within the Arctic circle, approachable 
alike from the east, and from the west, and sure to be at- 
tained by a combination of both movements, lies the solu- 
tion of our unhappy countrymen's fate. While such is the 
case, the question will never die. I believe that again and 
again would efforts be made to reach that spot, and that the 
Government could not look on as unconcerned spectators, 
nor be relieved in public opinion of the responsibility they 
had prematurely cast off. 

But I refrain from pursuing this argument, though, if 
any illustration were wanting of its truth, I think it might 
be found in the events that are passing before our eyes. 

It is now about two years ago that one of Her Majesty's 
Arctic ships was abandoned in the ice. In due tima this 
ship floated away, was picked up by an American whaler, 
carried into an American port, and (all property in her hav- 
ing been relinquished by the Admiralty) was purchased of 
her rescuers by the American Government, by whom she 
has been lavishly re-equipped, and is now on her passage to 



No. I. APPENDIX. 269 

England, a free gift to the Queen. The ' Resolute' is about 
to be delivered up in Portsmouth harbor, not merely in evi- 
dence of the cordial relation existing between the two coun- 
tries, but as a lively token of the deep interest and sym- 
pathy of the Americans in that great cause of humanity 
in which they have so nobly borne their part. The resolu- 
tion of Congress expressly states this motive, and indeed 
there could be no other, as it is well known that for any 
other purpose but the Arctic service those equipments would 
be perfectly useless and require removal. 

My Lord, you will not let this rescued and restored ship, 
emblematic of so many enlightened and generous sentiments, 
fail, even partially, in her significant mission. I venture to 
hope that she will be accepted in the spirit in which she is 
sent. I humbly trust that the American people, and espe- 
cially that philanthropic citizen who has spent so largely of 
his private fortune in the search for the lost ships, and to 
whom was committed by his Government the entire charge 
of the equipment of the 'Resolute,' will be rewarded for 
this signal act of sympathy, by seeing her restored to her 
original vocation, so that she may bring back from the 
Arctic seas, if not some living remnant of our long-lost 
countrymen, yet at least the proofs that they have nobly 
perished. 

I need not add that we have as yet no proofs, whatever 
may be our melancholy forebodings. That such is the fact, 
in a legal point of view, is shown by a case now or lately 
pending in the Scotch courts, in which the right of succes- 
sion to a considerable property is not admitted, on account 
of the absence of all but conjectural testimony. In this 
aspect of the question I have no personal interest, but it is 
one that may not be deemed unworthy of your Lordship's 
attention, combined as it must be with the fact that our 
most experienced Arctic officers are willing to stake their 
reputation upon the feasibility of reaching the spot where so 



270 APPENDIX. No. L 

many secrets lie buried, if only they are supplied with the 
adequate means. 

It would be a waste of words to attempt to refute again 
the main objections that have been urged against a renewed 
search, as involving extraordinary danger and risking life. 
The safe return of our officers and men cannot be denied, 
neither will it be disputed that each succeeding year di- 
minishes the risk of casualty ; and indeed, I feel it would 
be especially superfluous and unseasonable to argue against 
this particular objection, or against the financial one which 
generally accompanies it, at a moment when new expedi- 
tions for the glorious interests of science, and which every 
true lover of science and of his country must rejoice in, are 
contemplated for the interior of Africa and other parts 
which are far less favorable to human life than the icy re- 
gions of the north. 

But with respect to expenditure, I may perhaps be allowed, 
as I have alluded to that topic, again to call to your Lord- 
ship's attention that the ' Resolute ' is ready equipped for 
Arctic service by the munificence of another nation, and to 
add that other Arctic ships, equally well fitted for the pur- 
pose, are lying useless in Her Majesty's dockyards, along 
with accumulated Arctic stores brought back by the late 
expeditions, and therefore long since included in the navy 
estimates ; and which, besides, are available only for Arctic 
service, and, if sold, would be bought at only nominal 
prices. In addition to the above sources of supply are 
those already existing on the Arctic shores, which are now 
studded with depots of provisions and fuel, left from the last 
and former expeditions, and fit as ever for use, because of 
the conservative properties of the climate. 

But even were the expenditure greater than can thus rea- 
sonably be expected, I submit to your Lordship that this is 
a case of no ordinary exigency. These 135 men of the 
'Erebus ' and ' Terror' (or perhaps I should rather say the 



No. I. APPENDIX 211 

greater part of them, since we do not yet know that there 
are no survivors) have laid down their lives, after sufferings 
doubtless of unexampled severity, in the service of their 
country, as truly as if they had perished by the rifle, the 
cannon-ball, or the bayonet. JSTayjnore — by attaining the 
northern and already-surveyed coast of America, it is clear 
that they solved the problem which was the object of their 
labors, or, in the beautiful words of Sir John Richardson, 
that " they forged the last link of the North-West passage 
with their lives." 

Surely, then, I may plead for such men, that a careful 
search be made for any possible survivor, that the bones of 
the dead be sought for and gathered together, that their 
buried records be unearthed, or recovered from the hands 
of the Esquimaux, and above all, that their last written 
words, so precious to their bereaved families and friends, be 
saved from destruction. A mission so sacred is worthy of 
a government which has grudged and spared nothing for its 
heroic soldiers and sailors in other fields of warfare, and will 
surely be approved by our gracious Queen, who overlooks 
none of Her loyal subjects suffering and dying for their 
country's honor. 

This final and exhausting search is all I seek in behalf of 
the first and only martyrs to Arctic discovery in modern 
times, and it is all I ever intend to ask. 

But if, notwithstanding all I have presumed to urge, Her 
Majesty's Government decline to complete the work they 
have carried on up to this critical moment, but leave it to 
private hands to finish, I must then respectfully request that 
measure of assistance in behalf of my own expedition which 
I have been led to expect on the authority of Lord Stanley, 
as communicated to me by Lord Wrottesley, and on that of 
the First Lord of the Admiralty, as communicated to Colo- 
nel Phipps in a letter in my possession. 

It is with no desire to avert from myself the sacrifice of 



2t2 APPENDIX. No. I. 

my own funds, which I devote without reserve to the object 
in view, that I plead for a liberal interpretation of those 
communications, but I owe it to the conscientious and high- 
minded Arctic officers who have generously offered me their 
services, that my expedition should be made as efficient as 
possible, however restricted it may be in extent. The Ad- 
miralty, I feel sure, will not deny me what may be necessary 
for this purpose, since, if I do all I can with my own means, 
any deficiences and shortcomings of a private expedition 
cannot I think be justly laid to my charge. 

In conclusion, I would earnestly entreat of Her Majesty's 
Government, while this subject is still under deliberation, 
that they would be pleased to obtain the opinions of those 
persons who, in consequence of their practical knowledge 
and vast experience, may be considered best qualified to 
express them in the present emergency. And as it must be 
in the ranks of those officers who would naturally be selected 
for command of any final expedition that these qualifications 
will most assuredly be found, I trust I may be pardoned for 
directing your Lordship's attention to the names (which I 
put down in the order of their seniority) of Captains Col- 
linson, Richards, McClintock, Maguire, and Osborn. All 
these officers have passed winter after winter in Arctic service, 
have carried out those skillful sledge operations which have 
added so much to our knowledge of Arctic Geography, 
and have ever, in the exercise of combined courage and 
discretion, avoided disaster, and brought home their crews 
in health and safety. 

I commit the prayer of this letter, for the length of which 
I beg much to apologize, to your Lordship's patient and 
kind consideration, feeling assured that, however the burden 
of it may pall upon the ear of some, who apparently judge 
of it neither by the heart nor by the head, you will not on 
that or on any light ground, hastily dismiss it. Rather 
may you be impelled to feel that the shortest and surest 



No. I. APPENDIX. 2T3 

way to set the importunate question at rest, is to submit it 
to that final investigation which will satisfy the yearnings 
of surviving relatives and friends, and, what is justly of 
higher import to your Lordship, the credit and honor of 
the country. 

I have the honor to be, etc., 

Jane Feanklin. 
The Eight Hon. Viscount Palmerston, K.G-. 



18 



274 APPENDIX. No.H. 

No. II. 

MEMORIAL TO THE RIGHT HON. VISCOUNT 
PALMERSTON, M. P., G.C.B. 

t London, June 5th, 1856. 

Impressed with the belief that Her Majesty's missing 
ships, the 'Erebus' and 'Terror,' or their remains, are still 
frozen up at no great distance from the spot whence certain 
relics of Sir John Franklin and his crews were obtained 
by Dr. Rae, — we whose names are undersigned, whether 
men of science and others who have taken a deep interest 
in Arctic discovery, or explorers who have been employed 
in the search for our lost countrymen, beg earnestly to im- 
press upon your Lordship the desirableness of sending out 
an Expedition to satisfy the honor of our country, and 
clear up a mystery which has excited the sympathy of the 
civilized world. 

This request is supported by many persons well versed 
in Arctic surveys, who, seeing that the proposed Expedi- 
tion is to be directed to one limited area only, are of 
opinion that the object is attainable, and with little risk. 

We can scarcely believe that the British Government, 
which to its great credit has made so many efforts in various 
directions to discover even the route pursued by Franklin, 
should cease to prosecute research, now that the locality 
has been clearly indicated where the vessels or their re- 
mains must lie, — including, as we hope, records which will 
throw fresh light on Arctic geography, and dispel the 
obscurity in which the voyage and fate of our countrymen 
are still involved. 

Although most persons have arrived at the conclusion 
that there can now be no survivors of Franklin's Expedi- 
tion, yet there are eminent men in our own country and in 



No. II. APPENDIX. 2T5 

America who hold a contrary opinion. Dr. Kane, of the 
United States, for example, who has distinguished himself 
by pushing farther to the north in search of Franklin than 
any other individual, and to whom the Royal Geographical 
Society has recently awarded its Founder's Gold Medal, 
thus speaks (in a letter to the benevolent Mr. Grinnell) : — 
"I am really in doubt as to the preservation of human life. 
I well know how glad I would have been, had my duty to 
others permitted me, to have taken refuge among the Es- 
quimaux of Smith Strait and Etah Bay. Strange as it 
may seem to you, we regarded the coarse life of these 
people with eyes of envy, and did not doubt but that we 
could have lived in comfort upon their resources. It re- 
quired all my powers, moral and physical, to prevent my 
men from deserting to the Walrus Settlements, and it was 
my final intention to have taken to Esquimaux life had 
Providence not carried us through in our hazardous escape." 

But passing from speculation, and confining ourselves 
alone to the question of finding the missing ships or their 
records, we would observe that no land Expedition down 
the Back River, like that which, with great difficulty, re- 
cently reached Montreal Island, can satisfactorily accom- 
plish the end we have in view. The frail birch-bark 
canoes in which Mr. Anderson conducted his search 
with so much ability, the dangers of the river, the 
sterile nature of the tract near its embouchure, and the 
necessary failure of provisions, prevented the commence- 
ment, even, of such a search as can alone be satisfactorily 
and thoroughly accomplished by the crew of a man-of-war, 
—to say nothing of the moral influence of a strong armed 
party remaining in the vicinity of the spot until the confi- 
dence of the natives be obtained. 

Many Arctic explorers, independent of those whose 
names are appended, and who are absent on service, have 
expressed their belief that there are several routes by which 



2*76 APPENDIX. No. II. 

a screw-vessel eould so closely approach the area in ques- 
tion as to clear up all doubt. 

In respect to oue of these courses, or that by Behring 
Strait, along the coast of North America, we know that a 
single sailing vessel passed to Cambridge Bay, within 150 
miles of the mouth of the Back River, and returned home 
unscathed, — its commander having expressed his conviction 
that the passage in question is so constantly open that ships 
can navigate it without difficulty in one season. Other 
routes, whether by Regent Inlet, Peel Sound, or across 
from Repulse Bay, are preferred by officers whose experi- 
ence in Arctic matters entitles them to every consideration ; 
whilst in reference to two of these routes it is right to 
state that vast quantities of provisions have been left in 
their vicinity. 

Without venturing to suggest which of these plans should 
be adopted, we earnestly beg your Lordship to sanction 
without delay such an expedition as, in the judgment of a 
Committee of Arctic voyagers and Geographers, may be 
considered best adapted to secure the object. 

We would ask your Lordship to reflect upon the great 
difference between a clearly-defined voyage to a narrow 
and circumscribed area, within which the missing vessels or 
their remains must lie, and those formerly necessarily ten- 
tative explorations in various directions, the frequent allu- 
sions to the difficulty of which, in regions far to the north 
of the voyage now contemplated, have led persons unac- 
quainted with geography to suppose that such a modified 
and limited attempt as that which we propose involves far- 
ther risk and may call for future researches. The very 
nature of the former expeditions exposed them, it is true, to 
risk, since regions had to be traversed which were totally 
unknown ; while the search we ask for is to be directed to 
a circumscribed area, the confines of which have already 
been reached without difficulty by one of Her Majesty's 
vessels. 



No. II. 



APPENDIX. 



2tt 



Now, inasmuch as France, after repeated fruitless efforts 
to ascertain the fate of La Perouse, no sooner heard of the 
discovery of some relics of that eminent navigator, than she 
sent out a Searching Expedition to collect every fragment 
pertaining to his vessels, so we trust that those Arctic re- 
searches which have reflected much honor upon our country 
may not be abandoned at the very moment when an ex- 
planation of the wanderings and fate of our lost navigators 
seems to be within our grasp. 

In conclusion, we further earnestly pray that it may not 
be left to the efforts of individuals of another and kindred 
nation, already so distinguished in this cause, nor yet to the 
noble-minded widow of our lamented friend, to make an 
endeavor which can be so much more effectively carried out 
by the British Government. 

"We have the honor to be, &c, 



F. Beaufort, 
R. I. MimcHisoN, 

F. W. Beechey, 
Wrottesley, 

E. Sabine, 
Egerton Ellsmere, 
W. Whewell, 

R. COLLINSON, 

W. H. Sykes 

C. Daubeny, 

J. Fergus, 

P, E. de Stzrelecki, 

W. H. Smyth, 

A. Majendie, 

R. FlTZROY, 

E. Gardiner Fishbourne, 
R. Brown, 

G. Macartney. 



L. Horner, 
W. H. Fitton 
Lyon Playeair, 
T. Thorp. 
C. Wheatstone, 
W. J. Hooker, 
J. D. Hooker, 
J. Arrowsmith, 
P. La Trobe, 
W. A. B. Hamilton, 
R. Stephenson, 
J. E. Portlock, 
C. Piazzi Smyth, 
C. W. Pasley, 
G. Rennie, 
J. P. Gassiot, 
G. B. Airy, 

J. F. BURGOYNE. 



2T8 



APPENDIX. 



No. II. 



The following officers of the Royal Navy, who have been 
employed in the search after Franklin, and who are now 
absent from London, have previously expressed themselves 
to be favorable to the final expedition above recom- 
mended : — 



Captains Sir James C. Ross, 

and Sir Edward Belcher ; 
Commodore Kellett ; 
Captains Adstin, 

Bird, 

Omanney, 

Sir Robert M'Clure, 

Sherard Osborn, 

Inglefield, 



Captains Magutre, 
M'Clintock, and 
Richards ; 

Commanders Aldrich, 
Mecham, 
Trollope, and 
Cresswell ; 

Lieutenants Hamilton 
and Pim, 



No. III. APPENDIX. 279 



No. III. 

LIST OF RELICS OF THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION, 

Brought to England in the ' Fox,' by Captain M'Clintock. 

Relics brought from the boat found in lat. 69° 08' 43" "M. t 
long. 99° 24' 42" W., upon the West Coast of King 
William Island, May 30, 1859 :— 

Two double-barrelled guns, one barrel in each is loaded. Found stand- 
ing up against the side in the after part of the boat. 

A small Prayer Book; cover of a small book of 'Family Prayers;' 
'Christian Melodies/ an inscription within the cover to " G. G." (Gra- 
ham Gore ?) ; ' Vicar of Wakefield ;' a small Bible, interlined in many 
places, and with numerous references written in the margin ; a New Tes- 
tament in the French language. 

Two table knives with white handles — one is marked " W. R. ;" a gim- 
let; an awl ; two iron stanchions, 9 inches long, for supporting a weather 
cloth, which was round the boat. 

26 pieces of silver plate — 11 spoons, 11 forks, and 4 teaspoons; ?> pieces 
of thin elmboard (tingles) for repairing the boat, and measuring 11 inches 
by 6 inches, and 3-10ths inch thick. 

Piece of canvas : — Bristles for shoemaker's use, bullets, short clay pipe, 
roll of waxed twine, a wooden button, small piece of a port-fire, two 
charges of shot tied up in the finger of a kid glove, fragment of a sea- 
man's blue serge frock. Covers of a small Testament and Prayer Book, 
part of a grass cigar-case, fragment of a silk handkerchief, thread-case, 
piece of scented soap, three shot charges in kid glove fingers, a belted 
bullet, a piece of silk pocket handkerchief. Two pairs of goggles, made 
of stout leather and wire gauze, instead of glass ; a sailmaker's palm, two 
small brass pocket compasses, a snooding line rolled up on a piece of 
leather, a needle and thread case, a bayonet scabbard altered into a 
sheath for a knife, tin water bottle for the pocket, two shot pouches (full 
of shot). 

The spring hooks of sword belts, a gold lace band, a piece of thin gold 
twist or cord, a pair of leather goggles with crape instead of glass; a 
small green crape veil. 

Two small packets of blank cartridge in green paper, part of a cherry- 
stick pipe stem, piece of a port-fire, a few copper nails, a leather bootlace, 
a seaman's clasp-knife, two small glass stoppered bottles (full), three 
glasses of spectacles, part of a broken pair of silver spectacles, German 
silver pencil case, a pair of silver (?) forceps, such as a naturalist might 



280 APPENDIX. No. Ill 

use for holding or seizing small insects, etc. ; a small pair of scissors 
rolled up in blank paper, and to which adheres a printed government paper, 
such as an officer's warrant or appointment ; a spring hook of a sword 
belt, a brass charger for holding two charges of shot. 

A small bead purse, piece of red sealing-wax, stopper of a pocket flask, 
German silver top and ring, brass matchbox, one of the glasses of a tele- 
scope, a small tin cylinder, probably made to hold lucifer matches ; a linen 
bag of percussion caps of three sizes, a very large and old-fashioned kind, 
stamped " Smith's patent;" a cap with a flange similar to the present 
musket caps used by Government, but smaller ; and ordinary sporting 
caps of the smallest size. 

Five watches. 

A pair of blue glass spectacles, or goggles, with steel frame, and wira 
gauze encircling the glasses, in a tin case. 

A pemmican tin, painted lead color, and marked "E." (Erebus) in 
black. From its size it must have contained 201b. or 221b. 

Two yellow glass beads, a glass seal with symbol of Freemasonry. 

A 4-inch block, strapped, with copper hook and thimble, probably for 
the boat's sheet. 

Relics seen in lat. 69° 09' K, long. 99° 24' W., not 
brought away, 30th of May, 1859 :— 

A large boat measuring 28 ft. in extreme length, 7 ft. 3 in. in breadth, 
2 ft. 4 in. in depth. The markings on her stem were — "XXL W. Con. 
N61., APr. 184." It appears that the fore part of the stem has been cut 
away, probably to reduce weight, and part of the letters and figures re- 
moved. An oak sledge under the boat, 23 ft. 4 in. long, and 2 ft. wide ; 6 
paddles, about 60 fathoms of deep-sea lead line, ammunition, 4 cakes of 
navy chocolate, shoemaker's box with implements complete, small quan- 
tities of tobacco, a small pair of very stout shooting boots, a pair of very 
heavy iron-shod knee boots, carpet boots, sea boots and shoes — in all seven 
or eight pairs ; two rolls of sheet lead, elm tingles for repairing the boat, 
nails of various sizes for boat, and sledge irons, three small axes, a broken 
saw, leather cover of a sextant case, a chain-cable punch, silk handker- 
chiefs (black, white, and colored), towels, sponge, tooth-brush, hair comb, 
a mackintosh gun cover (marked in paint "A. 12 "), twine, files, knives; 
a small worsted-work slipper, lined with calf-skin, bound with red riband ; 
a great quantity of clothing, and a wolf-skin robe ; part of a boat's sail 
of No. 8 canvas, whale-line rope with yellow mark, and white line with 
red mark ; 24 iron stanchions, 9 1-2 inches high, for supporting a weather 
cloth round the boat; a stanchion for supporting a ridge pole at a height 
of 3 ft. 9 in. above the gunwale. 



No. III. APPENDIX. 281 

Relics found about Ross Cairn, on Point Yictory, May and 
June, 1859, brought away : — 

A 6-inch dip circle by Robinson, marked I 22. A case of medicines, 
consisting of 25 small bottles, canister of pills, ointment, plaster, oiled 
silk, etc. A 2-foot rule, two joints of the cleaning rod of a gun, and two 
small copper spindles, probably for dog- vanes of boats. The circular 
brass plate broken out of a wooden gun-case, and engraved " C. H. Osmer, 
R. N." The field glass and German silver top of a 2-foot telescope, a 
coffee canister, a piece of a brass curtain rod. The record tin and the 
record, dated 25th of April, 1848. A 6-inch double frame sextant, on 
which the owner's name is engraved, " Frederick Hornby, R. N." 

Found in a small cairn on the south side of Back Bay : — 

A tin record case and record. 

Seen about Ross Cairn, Point Victory, not brought 
away : — 

Four sets of boat's cooking apparatus complete, iron hoops, 4 feet of a 
copper lightning conductor, hollow brass curtain-rod three quarters of an 
inch in diameter, 3 pickaxes, 1 shovel, old canvas, a pile of warm clothing 
and blankets 4 feet high, 2 tin canteens stamped " 89 Co., Wm. Hedges," 
"88 Co., Win. Heather," and a third one not marked. A small pannikin, 
made on board out of a 21b. preserved-meafc tin, marked " W. Mark;" a 
small deal box for gun wadding, the heavy iron work of a large boat, 
part of a canvas tent, part of an oar sawed longitudinally and a blanket 
nailed to its flat side, three boat-hook staves, strips of copper, a 9-inch 
single block strapped, apiece of rope and spunyarn. Among the cloth- 
ing was found a stocking marked " W." green, and a fragment of one 
marked " W. S." 

Relics obtained at the Northern Cairn, near Cape Felix, 
May, 1859: 

Fragments of a boat's ensign, metal lid of a powder-case, two eye 
pieces of sextant tubes, brass button ; worsted glove, colors red, white 
and blue ; bung-stave of a marine's water keg or bottle, brass ornaments 
to a marine's shako ; brass screw for screwing down lid, also a copper 
hinge of the lid of powder-case; a few patent wire cartridges containing 
large shot ; part of a pair of steel spectacles, glass being replaced by wood, 
having a narrow slit in it: two small rib bones, probably out of salt pork; 
six or eight packets of needles; small flannel cartridge containing an 
ounce of damaged powder; a small, roughly made copper apparatus for 



282 APPENDIX. No. III. 

cooking ; some brimstone matches ; piece of white paper folded up found 
in the North Cairn, two pike-heads, narrow strip of white paper, found 
under one of the tent places : their tent places were within a few yards of 
the cairn. 

Beside a small cairn, about three miles north of Point Victory, was 
a pickaxe, with broken handle; brought away an empty tea or coffee 
canister. 

Articles noticed about the North Cairn, not brought away : 

Fragments of two broken bottles, several pieces of broken basins or 
cups, blue and white delfware, hoops of marine's water keg, small iron 
hoops, fragments of white line, spun yarn, canvas, and twine ; three 
small canvas tents, under which lay a bearskin and fragments of 
blankets ; two blanket frocks, several old mitts, stockings, gloves, pilot 
cloth, and box cloth jackets and trousers, large shot, piece of tobacco 
and broken pipe, metal part of powder-case, top of tin canister, marked 
" cheese," preserved-potato tin, feathers of ptarmigan, and salt meat 
bones. 

Seen near Cape Maria Louisa : 

■ Part of a drift tree, white spruce fir, 18 feet long, 10 inches in diame- 
ter; it appeared to have but recently (i. e. since thrown on the coast) 
been sawed longitudinally down the centre, and one-half of it removed. 

Relics obtained from the Boothian Esquimaux, near the 
Magnetic Pole, in March and April, 1859. 

Seven knives made by the natives out of materials obtained from the 
last expedition, one knife without a handle, one spear-head and staff (the 
latter has broken off), two files, a large spoon or scoop, the handle of pine 
or bone, the bowl of musk-ox horn ; six silver spoons and furks, the pro- 
perty of Sir John Franklin, Lieutenants H. D. Vescomte and Fairholme, 
A. M'Donald, Assistant-Surgeon, and Lieutenant E. Couch (supposed 
from the initial letter T and crest a lion's head); a small portion of a gold 
watch-chain, a broken piece of ornamental work apparently silver gilt, a 
few small naval and other metal buttons, a silver medal obtained by Mr. 
M'Donald as a prize for superior attainments at a medical examination in 
Edinburg, April, 1S3S ; some bows and arrows, in which wood, iron, or 
copper has been used in the construction — of no other interest. 

REMARKS UPON THESE ARTICLES. 

The spear-staff measures 6 feet 3 inches in length, and appears to have 
been part of a light boat's gunwale; it measured (before being partially 



No. in. APPENDIX. 283 

rounded to adapt it to its present use,) about 1J by 1| inches, is made 
of English oak, and upon the side has been painted white over green. 
The spear-head is of steel, riveted to two pieces of hoop, with bone be- 
tween, and lashed on to the staff. The rivets are of copper nails. The 
native who sold it said he himself got it from the boat in Fish River. 
Another spear of the same kind was seen. The knives are made either 
of iron or steel, riveted to two strips of hoop, between which the handle 
of wood is inserted, and rivets passed through, securing them together. 

The rivets are almost all made out of copper nails, such as would be 
found in a oopper-fastened boat, but those which have been examined do 
not bear the Government mark. It is probable that most of the boats of 
the 'Erebus' and 'Terror' were built by contract, and therefore would 
not have the broad arrow stamped upon their iron and copper work. One 
small knife appears to have been a surgical instrument. A large knife 
obtained in April bears some marking, such as a sword or a cutlass might 
have. The man who sold it said he bought it from another, who picked 
it up on the land where the ship was driven ashore by the ice, and where 
the white people had thrown it away; it was then about as long as his 
arm. This was the first information he received of one of the ships 
having drifted on shore. One knife and one file are stamped with the 
broad arrow. The handles are variously composed of oak, ash, pine, 
mahogany, elm, and bone. The spoons and forks were readily sold for a 
few needles each, also the buttons, which they wore as ornaments on their 
dresses. Bows and arrows were readily exchanged for knives. Pre- 
viously to the stranding on the neighboring shore of the last expedition 
these people must have been almost destitute of wood or iron. Some of 
them had even got only bone knives and spear-points. Some of their 
sledges were seen, consisting of two rolls of seal-skin, flattened and 
frozen, to serve as runners, and connected together by cross-bars of bone3. 
Many more knives, bows and buttons, similar to those brought away 
might have been obtained, but no personal or important relics. 

Seen in a Snow Hut in lat. ?0^ cleg. N., 20th of April, 
1859, not brought away : 

Two wooden shovels, one of them made of mahogany board, some 
spear-handles and a bow of English wood, a deal case which might have 
served for a telescope or barometer. Its external dimensions were :— 
length, 3 ft. 1 in. ; depth, 3J in. ; width, 9 in. ; two brass hinges re- 
mained attached to it. 



284 APPENDIX. No. III. 

Relics obtained from the Esquimaux near Cape Norton, 
upon the East Coast of King William Island, in May, 
1859: 

Two tablespoons; upon one is scratched "W. W." on the other "W. 
G. ;" these bear the Franklin crest; two table forks, one bearing the 
Franklin crest ; the other is also crested, probably Captain Crozier's 5 
silversmith's name is "I. West;" two teaspoons, one engraved "A. M. 
D." (A. M'Donald), the other bears the Fairholme crest and motto; han- 
dle of a dessert knife, into which had been inserted a razor (since 
broken off) by Milliken, Strand; buttons, wood and iron, were here in 
abundance, but as enough of these had already been obtained, no more 
were purchased. 

Taken out of some deserted snow-huts near here, some scraps of dif- 
ferent kinds of wood, such as could not be obtained from a boat — teak or 
African oak. 

Found lying about the skeleton, 9 miles eastward of Cape Herschel, 
May, 1859 : — The tie of black silk neckerchief; fragments of a double- 
breasted blue cloth waistcoat, with covered silk buttons, and edged with 
braid; a scrap of a colored cotton shirt, silk-covered buttons of blue cloth 
great-coat; a small clothes-brush; a horn pocket-comb; a leathern 
pocket-book, which fell to pieces when thawed and dried; it contained 9 
or 10 letters, a few leaves apparently blank ; a sixpence, dated 1831 ; and 
a half-sovereign, dated 1S44. 

Articles seen among the natives at Cape Norton, not purchased : Bows 
made of wood, knives, uniform and plain buttons, a sledge made of two 
long pieces of hard wood. 

From beside an Esquimaux stone mark, on the east side of Montreal 
Island : — Part of a preserved-meat tin, painted red ; part of the rim of 
some strong copper case or vessel; pieces of iron hoop, two pieces of flat 
iron, and iron hook bolt, a piece of sheet copper. 

Articles seen about a snow-hut near Point Booth, not purchased : 
Eight or ten fir poles, varying from 5 feet to 10 feet in length, the 
stoutest being 2£ inches in diameter. Two wooden snow shovels, about 
3£ feet long, and made of pieces of plank painted white or pale yellow; 
it occurred to me that the pieces of plank might have been the bottom 
boards of a boat. There was abundance of wood fashioned into smaller 
articles. 

Contents of Boat's Medicine Chest. 

One bottle labeled as zinzib. R. pulv., full; ditto, spirit, rect., empty; 
ditto, mur. hydrarg., seven-eighths full ; ditto, ol. oaryphyll., one-fiftb, 
full; ditto, ipec. P. co., full; ditto, ol. menth. pip., empty; ditto, liq. am- 



No. ni. APPENDIX. 285 

mon. fort., three-quarters full ; ditto, ol. olivac, full ; ditto, tinct. opii. 
camph., three-quarters full; ditto, vin. sem. colch., full ; ditto, quarter 
full j ditto, calomel, full (broken) ; ditto, hydrarg. hit. oxyd., full ; ditto, 
pulv. gregor, full (broken) ; ditto, inagnes. carb., full ; ditto, camphor, 
full; two bottles tine, tolut., each quarter full; one bottle ipec. R. pulv., 
full; ditto, jalap R. pulv., full; ditto, scammon. pulv., full; ditto, quinac 
bisulph., empty; ditto (not labeled), tinct. opii., three quarters full; one 
box (apparently) purgative pills, full ; ditto, ointment, shrunk ; ditto, 
emp. adhesiv., full ; one probang, one pen wrapped up in lint, one lead 
pencil, one pewter syringe, two small tubes (test) wrapped up in lint, one 
farthing, bandages oil silk, lint, thread. 



286 APPENDIX. No. IV. 

No. IV. 
GEOLOGICAL ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC ARCHIPELAGO. 

DRAWN UP PRINCIPALLY PROM THE SPECIMENS COLLECTED BT 

Captain F. L. M'Clintock, R. N. 
From 1849 to 1859. 

BT THE REV. SAMUEL HATTGHTON, F. E. S., 

Fellow of Trinity College, Professor of Geology in the University of Dublin, and 
President of the Geological Society of Dublin. 

The map which accompanies this geological, description 
is arranged from the specimens brought home by Captain 
P. L. M'Clintock, R. N"., from the four Arctic Expeditions 
in which he served from 1848 to 1859. These specimens 
are all deposited in the Museum of the Royal Dublin So- 
ciety, and form a more extensive and better collection of 
Arctic rocks and fossils than is to be found iu any other 
museum in Europe. 

It will be most convenient to describe the geology of the 
Arctic Islands by the formations which are to be found 
there, which are the following :— 

1. The Granitic and Granitoid Rocks. 

2. The Upper Silurian Rocks. 

3. The Carboniferous Rocks. 

4. The Lias Rocks. 

5. The Superficial deposits. 

I shall describe these successive formations briefly, and 
add a few remarks of a theoretical character, to indicate 
the important inferences which may be drawn from the facts 
respecting them made known to us by M'Clintock's dis- 
coveries. 



No. rv. APPENDIX. 28T 

I. — The Granitic and Granitoid Rocks. 

These rocks form a considerable part of North Green- 
land, on the east side of Baffin's Bay, and constitute the 
rock of the country at the east side of the island of North 
Devon, which forms a portion of the coast-line of the west 
of Baffin's Bay, and the north side of the entrance into 
Lancaster Sound. 

1. Whale Fish Islands, lat. 69° ]S\, are composed of a 
very fine-grained, flaggy, black mica schist, composed of 
black mica in very small plates, occasionally putting ou a 
hornblendic lustre, and minute grains of quartz interstrati- 
fied with the mica. The softer varieties are cut by the na- 
tives into grissets and cooking utensils of various shapes, 
Borne of which resemble the cambstones found in Irelaud, 
which are made from a kind of potstone, abundant in parts 
of the County Donegal. 

2. Upernavik, lat. T2° N"., Greenland. — This district is 
famous for the occurrence of large quantities of plumbago, 
which is found in a metamorphic rock of the following char- 
acter. Fine-grained, amorphous, granitoid rock, composed 
of minute particles of grey quartz ; a honey-colored felspar 
of waxy lustre, of unknown composition : minute particles 
of red semitransparent garnet, of conchoidal fracture ; and 
small particles, with occasional large nests, of plumbago. 
The plumbago occurs both amorphous, and in long acicular 
crystals. Sometimes the rock becomes of coarser texture 
and more crystalline, and the yellow color of the felspar 
gives place to a greenish tinge ; and it sometimes also be- 
comes a felspar of perfect cleavage, semitransparent, and 
white. .The dodecahedral crystals of garnet reach the di- 
ameter of one inch. 

The general character of the rocks near Upernavik is 
different from that of the rock in which the plumbago is 
found ; they consist of a fine-grained black mica schist, with 



288 APPENDIX. No. IV. 

very little felspar or quartz, and intersected by thin veins of 
elvan composed of quartz and white felspar. The cooking 
utensils of the natives are made from this fine schist, in pre- 
ference to any other description of rock. 

3. Woman's Islands. — These islands, off the west coast 
of Greenland, are composed of a garnetiferous mica slate, 
formed of black mica in layers, with alternating plates com- 
posed of white felspar and quartz, and filled with fine gar- 
nets, rose-colored, vitreous in fracture, and transparent. 

4. Cape York, lat. 16° N., Greenland. — This cape is 
composed of a fine-grained granite, consisting of quartz, 
white felspar, with minute specks of a black mineral, of 
pitchy lustre, composition not yet determined. 

5. Wolstenholme and Whale Sounds, lat. Tt "N., 
Greenland. — At Wolstenholme Sound the granitoid rocks 
of Greenland become converted into mica slate and actino- 
lite slate of a remarkable character. The mica slate is com- 
posed of large plates of an intimate mixture of black and 
white mica, the chemical examination of which will doubt- 
less prove of interest. These plates of mica are separated 
by bands of pure white felspar. The actinolite slate is 
dark green, and formed by an almost insensible gradation 
from the mica slate. In the low ground between Wolsten- 
holme and Whale Sounds, the granitic rocks cease, and are 
covered by deposits of fine red gritty sandstone, of a banded 
structure, and a remarkable coarse white conglomerate. 
The bonndary between these formations is also marked by 
the development of masses of dolerite and clayey basalt. 

6. Carey's Islands, Y6 40' N"., Greenland, lie to the 
westward of Wolstenholme Sound, and are composed of a 
remarkable gneissose mica schist, formed of successive thin 
layers of quartz granules, containing scarcely any felspar, 
and layers of jet black mica, with occasional facets of white 
mica. This mica schist passes into a white gne'ss, com- 
posed of quartz, white felspar, and black mica penetrated 



No. IV. APPENDIX. 289 

by veins, coarsely crystalised, of the same minerals. Yellow 
and white sandstones are also found in small quantity on the 
islands, reposing upon the granitoid rocks. 

7. Gapes Osborn and Warrender, lat. 14° 30' N, 
North Devon. — The granitoid rocks between these two 
capes are composed of graphic granite, consisting of quartz 
(grey) and white felspar ; this graphic granite passes into a 
laminated gneiss, consisting of layers of black mica and 
white translucent felspar, sparingly mixed with quartz : 
with the gneiss are interstratified beds of garnetiferous 
mica slate, consisting of quartz, pale greenish white felspar, 
black and white mica in minute spangles, and crystals of 
garnet, rose-colored, disseminated regularly through the 
mass. Quartziferous bands of epidotic hornstone occur 
with the foregoing beds; and the whole series is overlaid 
by red sandstones, of banded structure, which bear a striking 
resemblance to those that overlie the granitoid beds of Wol- 
stenholme Sound. 

8. North Somerset. — The granitoid rocks are found 
again on the west side of the island of North Somerset, 
where they form the eastern boundary of Peel Sound. 
Boulders of granite are found at a considerable distance 
(100 miles) to the north-eastward of the rock in situ, as at 
Port Leopold, Cape Rennell, etc. The general character 
of the granitic rocks in the north and west of North Som- 
erset are thus described by Captain M'Clintock : — 

Near Cape Rennell we passed a very remarkable rounded 
boulder of gneiss or granite ; it was 6 yards in circumfer- 
ence, and stood near the beach, and some 15 or 20 yards 
above it ; one or two masses of rounded gneiss, although 
very much smaller, had arrested our attention at Port Leo- 
pold, as then we knew of no such formation nearer than 
Cape Warrender, 130 miles to the north-east ; subsequently 
we found it to commence in situ at Cape Granite, nearly 
100 miles to the southwest of Port Leopold. 
19 



290 



APPENDIX. 



No. IV. 



" The granite of Cape Warreuder 
differs considerably from that of North 
Somerset ; the former being a graphic 
granite, composed of grey quartz and 
white felspar, the quartz predominat- 
ing ; while the latter, or North Somer- 
set granite, is composed of grey quartz 
red felspar, and green chloritic mica, 
the Tatter in large flakes ; both the 
granite and gneiss of North Somerset 
are remarkable for their soapy feel."* 

To the east of Cape Bunny, where 
the Silurian limestone ceases, and south 
of which the granite commences, is a 
remarkable valley called Transition Val- 
ley, from the junction of sandstone and 
limestone that takes place there. The 
sandstone is red, and of the same gene- 
ral character as that which rests upon 
the granitoid rocks at Cape Warrender 
and at Wolstenholme Sound. Owing 
to the mode of travelling, by sledge, on 
Jie ice, round the coast, no information 
was obtained of the geology of the in- 
terior of the country, but it appears 
highly probable that the granite of 
North Somerset, as well as that of the 
other localities mentioned, is overlaid 
by a group of sandstones and conglo- 
merates, on which the Upper Silurian 
limestones repose directly. A low, 
sandy beach marks the termination of 
the valley northwards, and on this beach 
were found numerous pebbles, washed 
from the hills of the interior, composed 



* Journal of the Royal Dublin Society, 1857. 



No. IV. APPENDIX. 291 

of quartzose sandstone, carnelian, and Silurian limestone. 
The accompanying sketch was made by Captain M'Clintock, 
on the spot, in 1849, and afterwards finished by Lieutenant 
Browne. It represents the island called Cape Bunny, which 
forms the eastern headland of the entrance of the now fa- 
mous Peel Sound, down which the 'Erebus' and 'Terror' 
sailed, three years before it was visited by Sir James C. 
Ross and Lieutenant M'Clintock, in their first sledge jour- 
ney on the ice. Cape Granite is the northern boundary of 
the granite, which retains the same character as far as Howe 
Harbor. It is composed of quartz, red felspar, and dark 
green chlorite ; and is accompanied with gneiss of the same 
composition. I have in my possession a specimen of this 
granite, found as a pebble at Graham Moore Bay, Bathurst 
Island, S. W., a locality 135 knots distant from Cape 
Granite, to the K W. 

9. BelloVs Straits, lat. 72° K, separate North Somerset 
from Boothia Felix. The ' Fox' Expedition wintered here 
in 1858, and had abundant means of ascertaining the geo- 
logical structure of the neighborhood. The junction of the 
granitoid and Silurian rocks occurs in these straits, the low 
ground to the east being horizontal beds of Silurian lime- 
stone, while on the west the granite hills of West Somerset 
rise to a height of 1600 feet above the narrow straits. The 
granite here is of three varieties. 

a. Blackish grey, fine grained, gneissose granite, com- 
posed of quartz, white felspar, and large quantities of fine 
grains and flakes of hornblende, passing into black mica. 
The gneissose beds of this granite dip 13° S. E. 

j3. A red granite, graphic texture, composed of quartz 
and red felspar, coarse grained. 

/.. Syenite, composed of honey-yellow felspar and horn- 
blende, in very large crystals, the felspar passing into red 
and pink, and the whole rock mass penetrated by veins of 
the same material, but fine grained. This variety of igne 



292 APPENDIX. No. IV. 

ous rock was met with principally at Pemmican Rock, west- 
ern inlet of Bellot's Straits. Large quantities of hornblende 
are also met with at Leveque Harbor, Bellot's Straits, com- 
posed of facetted crystals agglutinated together into large 
masses, forming a crystalline hornblendic gneiss. 

10. Pond's Bay, Baffin's Bay, lat. ?2° 40' N.— In this 
locality a quartziferous black mica schist underlies the Si- 
lurian limestone, and is interstratified with gneiss and gar- 
netiferous quartz rock, all in beds, inclined 38° W. S. W. 
(true). 

11. Montreal Island, mouth of the Fish River, lat. 61° 
45' 1ST. — The granitoid rocks, which everywhere, in the 
Arctic Archipelago, underlie the Silurian limestone, appear 
at Montreal Island as a gneiss, composed of bands of fel- 
spar (pink) and quartz (^ inch thick), separated by thin 
plates composed altogether of black mica ; the whole rock 
exhibiting the phenomena of foliation in a marked degree. 

The east side of King "William's Island, though composed 
of Silurian limestone like the rest of the island, is strewed 
with boulders of black and red micaceous gneiss, like that 
of Montreal Island, and black metamorphic clay slate, in 
which the crystals of mica (qu. Ottrelite) are just commen- 
cing to be developed. It is probable that the granitoid 
rocks appear at the surface somewhat to the eastward of 
this locality. 

12. Prince of Wales' Island, West of Peel Sound. — The 
granitoid rocks extend across Peel Sound into Prince of 
Wales' Island, in the form of a dark syenite composed of 
quartz, greenish white felspar passing into yellow, and 
hornblende. This rock is massive and eruptive at Cape 
M'Clure, lat. T2° 52' N\, and occasionally gneissose, as at 
lat. T2° 13' K Between these two points, at lat. 12° 31' 
N., a limestone bluff occurs containing the characteristic 
Silurian fossils, and is succeeded at 12° 40' by a ferruginous 
limestone, bright red, and a few beds of fine red sandstone, 



No. IV. APPENDIX. 298 

like those observed by M'Clintock at Transition Valley, 
North Somerset. The entire western portion of Prince of 
Wales' Land is composed of Silurian limestone, which in 
the extreme west, at Cape Acworth, becomes chalky in char- 
acter, and non-fossiliferous, resembling the peculiar Silu- 
rian limestone found on the West side of Boothia Felix. 

II. — The Silurian Rocks. 

The Silurian rocks of the Arctic Archipelago rest every- 
where directly on the granitoid rocks, with a remarkable 
red sandstone, passing into coarse grit for their base. This 
sandstone is succeeded by ferruginous limestone, containing 
rounded particles of quartz, which rapidly pass into a 
fine greyish green earthy limestone, abounding in fossils, 
and occasionally into a chalky limestone, of a cream color, 
for the most part devoid of fossils. The average clip of 
the Silurian limestone varies from 0° to 5° N. N. W., and 
it forms occasionally high cliffs, and occasionally low flat 
plains, terraced by the action of the ice as the ground 
rose from beneath the sea. The general appearance of the 
rocks is similar to the Dudley limestone, and would strike 
even an observer who was not a geologist. This resem- 
blance to the Upper Silurian beds extends to the structure 
of the rocks on the large scale. Alternations of hard lime- 
stone and soft shale, so characteristic of the Upper Silurian 
beds of England and America, arranged in horizontal lay- 
ers, give to the cliffs around Port Leopold the peculiar ap- 
pearance which has been described by different Polar navi- 
gators as "buttress-like," "castellated;" this appearance 
is produced by the unequal weathering of the cliff, which 
causes the hard limestone to stand out in bands. Excellent 
sketches of this remarkable appearance, drawn by Lieutenant 
Beechey, are figured at page 35 of Parry's Pirst Yoyage, 
1 Hecla' and ' Griper,' 1819-20. The Western side of King 



294 



APPENDIX. No. IV. 



William's Island (now, alas ! invested with so sad an inte- 
rest) is a good example of the low terraced form which the 
limestone rocks assume at times. 

The following list contains the names of the principal 
fossils brought home by Captain M'Clintock : — 

No. I. GARNIER BAT (Lat. 74° N.; Long. 91° W.) 

1. Oyathophyllum helian/hoides, several specimens. 

2. JJeliolites porosa. Gamier Bay. Another specimen from near 

Cape Bunny. 

3. Specimens of carnelian, gneiss, chalcedony, etc., etc., from the shin- 

. gle near Cape Bunny. 

4. Cromus Arcticus, several specimens. 

5. Atrypa plioca (Salter). 

6. Atrypa reticularis. 

7. Brachiopoda on slab (various). 

8. Cyathophyllum. 

9. Columnaria Sutherlandi (Salter). Several specimens. 

No. II. PORT LEOPOLD (Lat. 73° 50' N. ; Long. 90° 15' W.) 

1. Limestone containing numerous fossils of the Upper Silurian type : 

Calmopora Gothlandica, Goldf. Rhynchonella euneata ? Dalm. 
Cgathophyllum, sp. 

2. Dark earthy limestone, containing multitudes of the Loxonema 

M'Clintocki, as casts — 1000 feet above sea level on North-east Cape. 

3. Fine specimens of selenite from shaly beds in cliff. 
. 4. Fibrous gypsum from same. 

No. III. GRIFFITH'S ISLAND (Lat. 74° 35' N.j Long. 95° 30' W.) 

1. Beautiful specimens of the Cromus Arcticus. PI. VI. Fig. 5, Journ. 

R. D, S., Vol. I. 

2. Orthocsras Griffiths. PI. V. Fig. 1, Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. 

3. An Orthoceras with lateral siphuncle, and simple circular outline of 

septa. 

4. Loxonema Rossi. PI. V. Figs. 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, Jour. R. D. S., Vol. I. 

5. Numerous specimens of crinodial limestone. 

6. Strophomena Donnetti (Salter). Sutherland's Voyage ; PI. V. Figs. 

11, 12. 
1. Atrypa plioca (Salter). PI. V. Figs. 3, 4, 7, Journ. R. D. S. # Vol. 1; 

and a ribbed Atrypa, not identified with European species, and un- 

described. 
8. An uudescribed bryozoan Zoophyte. PI. VII. Fig. 6, Journ. R. D. 

S., Vol. I. 



N_o. rv. APPENDIX. 295 

9. Calophyllum Pragmoceras (Salter ). Sutherland; PI VI. Pig. 4. 

10. Syringopora geniculate/.. 

11. An undescribed species of Ifacrocheilus: 

No. IV. BEECHEY ISLAND. (Lat. 74° 40' N.j Long. 92° W.) 

1. Orthoceras (species). 

2. Greftt multitudes of Atrypa phoca, forming, in fact, a dark-colored 

earthy Atrypa limestone. 

3. With these were associated many species of Loxonema, sometimes 

so abundant as to form a pale pink and whitish Loxonema lime- 
stone. 

4. A species of ribbed Atrypa. 

5. Crinodial limestone in abundance. 

6. Syringopora reticulata. 

7. Calophyllum phragnioceras (Salter). Sutherland; PI. VI. Fig. 4. 

8. Cyathophyllum ccespitosum. 

9. Cyathophyllum articulatum (Edwardes and Haime.) 

10. Calamopora Gothlandica. 

11. Calamopora alveolaris. 

12. Favistella Franklini (Salter). Sutherland; PI. VI. Fig. 3. 

13. Clisiop>hyllum Salteri. Sutherland; PI. VI. Fig. 7. 

14. Cyathophyllum (species). 

15. Loxonema Salteri, described by Mr. Slater in Sutherland's ' Voyage 

to Wellington Channel ;' PL V. Fig. 19. 

This is a fine slab of limestone, almost altogether composed of the 
remains of Loxonema Salteri and Atrypa phoca. It appears to hav© 
been quietly deposited at the bottom of a deep submarine depression, 
swarming with the Pyramidellidse and deep-water Brachiopoda. The 
physical conditions indicated by the fossils are also rendered proba- 
ble by the rock itself, which consists of fine grey limestone, subcrys- 
talline, and intimately blended with the finest and most delicate 
description of mud, such as could only be found where the water was 
deep, and all currents far removed. 

No. V. CORNWALLIS ISLAND, Assistance Bay (Lat. 74° 40' N.; Long. 
94° W.) 

1. Orthoceras Ommaneyi (Salter). Sutherland ; PL V. Figs. 16, 17. 

2. Pentamerus conchidium (Dalman). Sutherland; PL V. Figs. 9, 10 

3. Pentamerus limestone. 

4. Oromus Arcticus. Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. PL VI. 

5. Cardiola Salteri. PL VII. Fig. 5. Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. 

6. Syringopora genicidala. 



296 APPENDIX. No. IV. 

No. VI. CAPE YORK, Lancaster Sound (Lat. 73° 50' N. ; Long. 
87° W.) 
A specimen of the same fossil coral which I have named, doubt- 
fully, from Beechey Island, as Favosites or Calamopora Gothlandica; 
it is not impossible, however, that it is not a Calamopora at all, but a 
species of Chsetetes. 

No. VII. POSSESSION BAT; South entrance into Lancaster Sound 
(Lat. 73° 30' N. ; Long: 77° 20' W.) 
Specimens of brown earthy limestone, with a fetid smell when 
struck with a hammer; resembles closely the limestone of Cape 
York, Lancaster Sound. 

No. VIII. DEPOT BAY, Bellot's Straits (Lat. 72° N.; Long. 94° W.) 

1. Maelurea sp. 

2. Cyatliopthyllum helianthoides (Goldfuss). 

The limestone of this locality is white and saccharoid, with larga 
rhombohedral crystals of calcspar. 

*No. IX. CAPE FARRAND, East side of Boothia (Lat. 71° 38'; 
Long. 93° 35' W.) 

1. Atrypa phoca (Salter). Sutherland ; PI. V. Pig. 3. 

2. Loxonema Rossi. Journ. R. D, S., Vol. I. PI. V. 

3. Atrypa (ribbed sp.) 

4. Calamopora Gothlandica (Goldfuss). 

5. Cyrtoceras sp. 

The rock at this locality is grey mud limestone. 

No. X. WEST SHORE OF BOOTHIA (Lat. 70° to 71° N.), containing 
the Magnetic Pole. 

1. Atrypa p/hoca (Salter). 

2. Loxonema Rossi. Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. PI. V. 

3. Favistella Franhlini (Salter). Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. PI. XI. 

4. Loxonema Salteri. Sutherland; PI. V. Fig. 18. 

The cream-colored chalky limestone found on the west side of 
Prince of AVales' Island here occurs, and is generally destitute of 
fossils, like that of Prince of Wales' Land. 

f No. XL FURY POINT (Lat. 72° 50' N. ; Long. 92° W.) 

1. Cromus Areticus. Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. PI. VI. 

2. Maelurea sp. 

* Collected by Dr. Walker, surgeon to the 'Fox' Expedition. 
•j - Collected by Dr. Walker, surgeon to the 'Fox' Expedition. 



No. IV. APPENDIX. 29T 

3. 3Iya rotundata (?). 

4. Stromatopora concentrica. 

5. Oyathophyllnm helianthoides (Goldfuss). 
6 Petraia bina. 

1 Calumopora Gothlandica (Goldfuss). 
8 Favosites megastoma (?) 
9. Cyathophyllum coespitosum. 

10. Favistellx Franklini (Salter). Sutherland; PI. VI. Fig. S. 

11. Strephodes Austini (Salter). Sutherland; PI. VI. Fig. 6. 

12. Atrypa pit oca (Salter). 

The limestone here is of the same grey earthy aspect as at Beechey 
Island and Port Leopold. 

*No. XII. PRINCE OF WALES' LAND (Lat. 72° 88' N.; Long. 
97° 15' W.) 

1. Cyathophyllum sp. 

2. Calamopora Gothlandica (Goldfuss). 

3. Stromatopora concentrica. . 

These fossils occur in grey earthy limestone, near its junction ■with 
the red arenaceous limestone already described. 

No. XIII. WEST COAST OF KING WILLIAM'S ISLAND. 

1. Loxonema fiossi. Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. PI. V. 

2. Gatenipora escharoides. 

3. Orthoceras sp. 

4. Maclurca sp. 

5. Atrypa sp. 

6. Syringopora genicidata. 

7. Cbisiophylhim. sp. 

8. Orthis elegantula. 

III. — The Carboniferous Rocks. 
The Upper Silurian limestones already described are suc- 
ceeded by a most remarkable series of close-grained white 
sandstones, containing numerous beds of highly bituminous 
coal, and but. few marine fossils. In fact, the only fossil 
shell found in these beds, so far as I know, in any part of 
the Arctic Archipelago, is a species of ribbed Atrypa, which 
I believe to be identical with the Atrypa fallax of the car- 
boniferous slate of Ireland. These sandstone beds are suc- 

* Collected by Captain Allen Young. 



298 APPENDIX. - No. IV 

ceeded by a series of blue limestone beds, containing au. 
abundance of the marine shells commonly found in all parts 
of the world where the carboniferous deposits are at all de- 
veloped. The line of junction of these deposits with the 
Silurians on which they rest is N. E. to E. N. E. (true). 
Like the former they occur in low flat beds, sometimes rising 
into cliffs, but never reaching the elevation attained by the 
Silurian rocks in Lancaster Sound. 

The following lists contain the principal fossils and spe- 
cimens presented to the Royal Dublin Society by Captain 
M'Clintock and by Captain Sir Robert M'Clure : 

Coal, sandstone, clay ironstone, and brown hematite, were found 
along a line stretching E. N. E. from Baring Island, through, th© 
south of Melville Island, Byam Martin's Island, and the whole of 
Bathurst Island. Carboniferous limestone, with characteristic fos- 
sils, was found along the north coast of Bathurst Island, and at Hil- 
lock Point, Melville Island. 

I have marked on the map the coal-beds of the Parry 
Islands, which appear to be prolonged into Baring Island, 
as observed by Captain M'Clure. The discovery of coal in 
these islands is due to Parry, but the evidence of the extent 
and quantity in which it may be found was obtained during 
the expeditions of Austin and Belcher. In addition to the 
localities surveyed by himself, Captain M'Clintock has given 
me specimens of the coal found at other places by other 
explorers ; and it is from a comparison of all these speci- 
mens that I have ventured to lay down the out-crop of the 
coal-beds, which agrees remarkably well with the boundary 
of the formations laid down from totally different data. 

No. I. HILLOCK POINT, Melville Island (Lat. 76° N. ; Long. Ill 
45' W.) 

Troduetua sulcatus. Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. PI. VII. Pigs. 1, 2, 3, 

4, 7. 
Spirifer Arctimis. Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. PI. IX. 



No. IV. APPENDIX. 299 

No. II. BATHURST ISLAND, North Coast, Cape Lady Franklin (?) 
(Lat. 7.6° 40' N.; Long. 98° 45' W.) 
Spirifer Arcticus. Jour. R. D. S., Vol. I. PI. IX. Fig. 1. 
Lithostrotioii basaltiforme. 

* No. ni. BALLAST BEACH, Baring Island (Lat. 74° 30' N. ; Long. 
121° W.) 

1. Wood fossilized by brown hematite; structure quite distinct. 

2. Cone of the spruce fir, fossilized by brown hematite. 

No. IV. PRINCESS ROYAL ISLANDS, Prince of "Wales' Strait, Ba- 
ring Island (Lat. 72° 45' N. ,• Long. 117° 30' W.> 

1. Nodules of clay ironstone, converted partially into brown bematite. 

2. Native copper in large masses, procured from the Esquimaux in 

Prince of Wales' Strait. 

3. Brown hematite, pisolitie. 

4. Greyish yellow sandstone, same as Cape Hamilton and Byam Martin's 

Island. 

5. Terelratula aspera (Schlotheim). Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. PI. IX. 

Fig. 4. 

This interesting brachiopod was found in the limestone 
by Captain M'Clure, at the Princess Royal Islands, in the 
Prince of Wales' Strait, between Baring Island and Prince 
Albert Land. I have no hesitation in pronouncing it to be 
identical with Schlotheim's fossil, which is found in the 
greatest abundance at Gerolstein, in the Eifel. Banks' 
Land, or Baring Island, is composed of sandstone, similar 
to that at Byam Martin's Island, and at the Bay of Mercy. 
This sandstone contains beds of coal, apparently the con- 
tinuation of the well-known coal-beds of Melville Island. 
It is a remarkable fact, that these carboniferous sandstones 
underlie beds of undoubtedly the carboniferous limestone 
type, and that at Byam Martin's Island, where fossils are 
found in this sandstone, they are allied to Atrypa fallax 
and other forms characteristic of the lower sandstones of 
the carboniferous epoch. It is, therefore, highly probable 

* These specimens are "Drift," but are mentioned here as they wera 
found on the carboniferous sandstone area, 



300 APPENDIX. No. rv 

that the coal-beds of Melville Island are very low down in 
the series, and do not correspond in geological position 
with the coal-beds of Europe, which rest on the summit of 
the carboniferous beds. It is interesting to find at Princess 
Royal Island, where, from the general strike of the beds, we 
should expect to find the Silurian limestone underlying the 
coal-bearing sandstones,' that this limestone does occur, and 
contains a fossil, T. aspera, eminently characteristic of the 
Eifelian beds of Germany, which form, in that country, the 
Upper Silurian Strata. 

No. V. CAPE HAMILTON, Baring Island (Lat, 74° 15' N.- Long. 117° 
30' W.). 

1. Greyish-yellow sandstone, like that found in situ in Byam Martin's 

Island. 

2. Coal. — The coal found in the Arctic regions, excepting that brought 

from Disco Island, "West Greenland, which is of tertiary origin, 
presents everywhere the same characters, which are somewhat re- 
markable. It is of a brownish color and lignaceous texture, in 
fine layers of brown coal and jet-black glossy coal interstratified in 
delicate bands not thicker than paper. It has a woody ring under 
the hammer, recalling the peculiar clink of some of the valuable 
gas coals of Scotland. It burns with a dense smoke and brilliant 
flame, and would make an excellent gas coal ; and, in fact, it re- 
sembles in many respects some varieties of the coal which has 
acquired such celebrity in the Scotch and Prussian law-courts, 
under the title of the Torbane Hill mineral. 

No. VI. CAPE DUNDAS, Melville Island (Lat. 74° 30' N.; Long. 113° 
46' W.). 
Fine specimens of coal. 

No. VII. CAPE SIR JAMES ROSS, Melville Island (Lat. 74° 45' N. ; 
Long. 114° 30' W.). 
Sandstone passing into blue quartzite. 

No. VIII. CAPE PROVIDENCE, Melville Island (Lat. 74° 20' N, ; 
Long. 112° 30' W.). 

A specimen of crinoidal limestone, apparently similar to that occur- 
ring in Griffith's Island, from which, however, it could not have 
been brought by the present drift of the floating ice, as the set of 



No. IV. APPENDIX, 301 

the currents is constant from the west. If brought to its present 
position by ice, it must have been under circumstances differing 
considerably from those now prevailing in Barrow's Strait. 

Yellowish-grey sandstone. 

Clay ironstone passing into pisolitic hematite. 

No. IX. WINTER HARBOR, Melville Island (Eat. 74° 35 W. ; Long. 
110° 45' "W.). 
Eine yellow and grey sandstone. 

No. X. BRIDPORT INLET, Melville Island (Lat. 75° N. ,• Long. 
109° W.). 

Coal, with impressions of Sphenopteris. 

Ferruginous spotted white sandstone. 

Clay ironstone, passing into brown hematite. 

No. XL SKENE BAT, Melville Island (Lat. 75° N.j Long. 108° W.). 
Bituminous coal, with finely divided laminse, associated with brown 
crystalline limestone, with cherty beds, and grey-yellowish sand- 
stone, passing into brownish-red sandstone. 

No. XII. HOOPER ISLAND, Liddon's Gulf, Melville Island (Lat. 75° 
5' N.j Long. 112° W.). 

Nodules of clay ironstone, very pure and heavy, associated with 
ferruginous fine sandstone and coal of the usual description. 

The hill-tops and sides along the south shore of Liddon's 
Gulf, and as far as Cape Dundas, are generally bare, com- 
posed of frozen mud, arising from the disintegration of 
shale, the annual dissolving snows washing them down and 
giving them a rounded form. The southern slopes gene- 
rally support vegetation. Fragments of coal are very fre- 
quently met with, and at the mouth of a ravine on the south 
shore of Liddon's Gulf there is abundance, of very good 
quality ; it contains a considerable quantity of pyrites or 
bisulphuret of iron. 

No. XIII. BTAM MARTIN'S ISLAND (Lat. 75° 10' N.; Long. 104° 
15' W.). 
3Tellowish-grey sandstone, in situ, containing a ribbed Atrypa, allied 
to the A. primipilaris of V. Buch, and the Afallax of the carbon- 
iferous rocks of Ireland. 



302 APPENDIX. No. IV, 

Reddish limestone, with broken fragments of shells, of the same 

description of braehiopod as the last. 
Coal of the usual description. 

Fine-grained red sandstone, passing into red slate. 
Scoriaceous hornblendic trap (boulders). 

The sandstone of Byam Martin's Island is of two kinds — ■ 
one red, finely stratified, passing into purple slate, and very 
like the red sandstone of Cape Bunny, North Somerset, and 
some varieties of the red sandstone and slate found between 
Wolstenholme Sound and Whale Sound, West Greenland, 
lat. TT N. The other sandstone of Byam Martin's Island 
is fine, pale-greenish, or rather greyish-yellow, and not dis- 
tinguishable in hand specimens from the sandstone of Cape 
Hamilton, Baring Island. It contains numerous shells and 
casts of a terebratuliform braehiopod, closely allied to the 
Terebratula primijnlaris of Yon Buch, found abundantly 
at Gerolstein in the Eifel. On the whole, I incline to the 
opinion that the sandstones, limestone, and coal of Byam 
Martin's Island, are the corresponding rocks of Melville 
Island, Baring Island, and Bathurst Island, are low down 
in the Carboniferous System, and that there is in these 
northern coal-fields no subdivision into red sandstone, lime- 
stone, and coal-measures, such as prevails in the west of 
Europe. If the different points where coal was found be 
laid down on a map, we have in order, proceeding from the 
south-west — Cape Hamilton, Baring Island; Cape Dundas, 
Melville Island, south ; Bridport Inlet and Skene Bay, Mel- 
ville Island ; Schomberg Point, Graham Moore Bay, Bath- 
urst Island ; a line joining all these points is the outcrop 
of the coal-beds of the south of Melville Island, and runs 
E. N. E. At all the localities above mentioned, and, in- 
deed, in every place where coal was found, it was accom- 
panied by the greyish-yellow and yellow sandstone already 
described, and by nodules of clay ironstone, passing into 
brown hematite, sometimes nodular and sometimes pisolitic 
in structure. 



No. IV. APPENDIX. 303 

No. XIV. GRAHAM MOORE'S BAY, Bathurst Island (Lat 75° 30' N.j 
Long. 102° W.)« 
Coal of the usual quality. 

At Cape Lady Franklin, and at many other localities 
along the north shore of Bathurst Island, carboniferous 
fossils in limestone, clay ironstone balls passing into brown 
hematite, cherty limestone, and earthy fossiliferous limestone, 
with the same species of Atrypa as at Byam Martin's 
Island, were found in abundance by Sherard Osborn, Esq., 
Commander of H. M. S. ' Pioneer,' in whose journal the 
following note respecting them may be found : — 

" The above collection was delivered oyer to Captain Sir 
Edward Belcher, C. B., by Commander Richards, at 2 P. m., 
on Tth Nov., 1853."* 

It is to be hoped that they may soon be made available 
for the elucidation of the geology of this most interesting 
portion of the Arctic discoveries. 

No. XV. BATHURST ISLAND, Bedford Bay (Lat, 15° N. ; Long. 95° 

50' W.). 

In this locality abundance of vesicular scoriaceous trap rocks 

were found by Captain M'Clintock; they appear to niewto be the 

representatives of the volcanic rocks found everywhere at the 

commencement of the carboniferous period. 

No. XVI. CORNWALLIS ISLAND, M'Dougall Bay. 

1. Syringopora geniculata. Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. PI. XL Fig. 2. 

2. Cardiola Salteri. Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. PI. VII. Fig. 5. 

The Syringopore found at Cornwallis Island appears to 
be identical with the variety of the Irish carboniferous S. 
geniculata, in which the corallites are at a distance from 
each other somewhat exceeding their diameters, and in 
which the connecting tubes are about two diameters apart. 

A question of very considerable geological interest is 

* Vide Arctic Expeditions, 1854-55, p, 254, 



304 APPENDIX. No. IV. 

raised by the occurrence together of coral, in the same 
locality, of silurian and carboniferous forms. 

I entertain no doubt of their being in situ, and occurring 
in the same beds, for the following reasons : 

1st. The Syringopores of Griffith's Island were found at 
an elevation of 400 feet above the sea, and, therefore, could 
not be brought by drifting ice. 

2nd. The specimens were apparently of the same texture 
and composition as the native rock, whenever the latter 
was visible from under the snow. 

3rd. I do not believe in the lapse of a long interval of 
time between the Silurian and carboniferous deposits, — in 
fact, in a Devonian period. 

4. The same blending of corals has been found in Ireland, 
the Bas Bonlonnais, and in Devonshire, where silurian and 
carboniferous forms are of common occurrence in the same 
localities. 

5th. In the carboniferous beds proper of Melville Island 
and Bathurst Island, there were not found, so far as I am 
aware, any corals of the same character as those at Griffith's 
Island, Cornwallis Island, and Beechey Island, which could 
give a* supply to be drifted to the latter localities in a 
Pleistocene sea. It is plain, from the height at which the 
corals were found that, if they were brought to their present 
localities by ice, it must have been during the period known 
as Post-tertiary, as the present conditions of drift-ice in 
Barrow's Straits do not permit us to suppose them to have 
been placed where we now find them by existing causes. 

The occurrence of coal-beds in such high latitudes has 
been speculated on by many geologists — in my opinion, not 
very satisfactorily ; as it is very difficult to conceive how, 
even if the question of temperature was settled, plants even 
of the fern and lycopodium type could exist during the 
darkness of the long winter's night at Melville Island. This 
difficulty is increased by the facts made known to us by the 



No. IT. APPENDIX. 305 

discovery of ammonites and lias fossils in Prince Patrick's 
Island by Captain M'Clintock. 



IV. — The Idas Bocks. 

Many years ago it was asserted by Lieutenant Anjou, of 
the Russian Navy, that ammonites had been found by him 
in the cliffs on the south shore of the island of New Si- 
beria, off the north coast of Asia, in lat 74° N. This 
statement, which was published in Admiral Yon "Wrangle's 
journal, attracted but little attention, until it was confirmed, 
as far as probability of such fossils occurring at so high a 
latitude is concerned, by the remarkable discovery of smilar 
fossils by Captain M'Clintock, in lat. ?6° 20' K., at Point 
Wilkie, in Prince Patrick's Island. 

In a paper, published by the Royal Dublin Society, in 
the first volume of their journal, p. 223, Captain M'Clin- 
tock thus describes the finding of these fossils : 

"After returning to Cape de Bray, we took up the pro- 
visions that the officer after whom it is called had left for 
us, and crossed the strait to Point Wilkie ; reached it on 
the 14th May. This traverse was the more difficult from 
the great load upon our sledge, and the unfavorable state 
of the ice and snow. The freshly fallen snow was soft and 
deep, and beneath it the older snow lay in furrows across 
our route, hardened and polished by the winter gales and 
drifts, so that it resembled marble. 

" Ou landing I found the beach low, composed of mud, 
with the foot-prints of animals frozen in it. A few hundred 
yards from the beach there are steep hills, about 150 feet 
in height, and upon the sides of these, in reddish -colored 
limestone, casts of fossil shells abound. Inland of these, 
the ordinary pale carboniferous sandstone and cherty lime- 
stone reappeared. The fossils are all small, and of only a 
few varieties, some being ammonites, but the greater part 
20 



306 APPENDIX. No, IV. 

bivalves. They differed from any I had met with before, 
and the rock was almost brick-red ; I picked up what ap- 
peared to be fossil bone (Ilchthyosaurus ?), only part of it 
appearing out of the fragment of the rock. 

" Point Wilkie appears to be an isolated patch of liassie 
age, resting upon carboniferous sandstones and limestones, 
with bands of chert, of the same age as the limestones and 
sandstones of Melville Island. The eastern shores of In- 
trepid Inlet is composed of this formation ; while the western, 
rising into hills and terraces, is of the underlying carbon- 
iferous epoch. At the western side of Intrepid Inlet I found 
upon the ice a considerable quantity of white asbestos, but 
did not ascertain from whence it had been brought." 

The fossils thus found in situ, I have no doubt, belong 
to the liassie period ; and as their geological interest is in- 
dubitable, I offer no apology for inserting here the follow- 
ing description, written by me on Captain M'Clintock's re- 
turn to Dublin from his third Arctic expedition. 

No. 1. WILKIE POINT, Prince Patrick's Land (Lat. 76° 20' N.j Long, 
117° 20' W\). 

LIAS FOSSILS, » 

(a) Ammonites W ClintocM, Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. PI. IX. Figs. 2, 3, 4. 

Monotis septentrionalia. Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. PI, IX. Pigs. 6, 7. 

Pleurotomaria, sp. Journ. R. D. S., Vol I. PI. IX. Pig. 8. 

Cast of some Univalve. Journ. R. D. S., Vol. I. PI. IX. Fig. 7. 

Nucula, sp. 
(a) Ammonites M'Clintocki (Haughton). — TestaL compresad, carinatd, 
an/ractibua latis, lateribus, complanatia, transveraim undato-costatia ; costia 
timplicibua, juxtd tnarginem interiorem levigatia ; dorao carinato acuto / 
aperturd sagittatd, compresad, antice carinatd; septia lateribus <L-lobatia. 

This fine ammonite resembles several species common in 
the upper lias of the Plateau de Larzac, Sevennes, in 
Prance. It approaches A. concctvus of the lower Oolite, 
but is distinguished by having only four lobes on the lateral 
margins of the septa, and by its showing no tendency to a 



No. IV. 



APPENDIX. 



30T 



triearinated keel. The following measurements give an 
exact idea of its form, as compared with that of the species 
mentioned : 





Diameter, 
Inches. 


Width of 
last Spire. 
Diaro=100 


Thickness 
of last 
Spire. 


Overlapping 
of last 
Spire. 


"Width 

of 
TJmhilic. 


A. M? Clintocki, 
A. concavus, . 


1.83 
2.95 


5 L 

1 00 

_5 
1 (50 


1 0(J 

24 
T0<T 


2 -0~ 
1 Off 

19 
TOO" 


2( k 
105 

TOO 



The principal difference here observable is in the some- 
what greater size of A. concavus, and the larger umbilic 
of A. W Glintocki. It certainly resembles this well-known 
ammonite very closely ; and it appears to me difficult to 
imagine the possibility of such a fossil living in a frozen, or 
even a temperate sea. 

The discovery of such fossils in situ, in 76° north lati- 
tude, is calculated to throw considerable doubt upon the 
theories of climate which would account for all past changes 
of temperature by ohanges in the relative position of land 
and water on the earth's surface. No attempt, that I am 
aware of, has ever been made to calculate the number of 
degrees of change possible in consequence of changes of 
position of land and water ; and from some incomplete cal- 
culations I have myself made on the subject, I think it 
highly improbable that such causes could have ever pro- 
duced a temperature in the sea at ?6° north latitude which 
would allow of the existence of ammonites, especially am- 
monites so like those that lived at the same time in the 
tropical warm seas of the south of England and France, at 
the close of the Liassic, and commencement of the lower 
Oolitic period. 

During the course of the same Arctic expedition in which 
these organic remains were found, Captain Sir Edward Bel- 
cher discovered insome loose rubble, of which a cairn was 



308 APPENDIX. No. IV. 

built on Exmouth Island (lat. 11° 1*' K, Ion. 96° W.), 
vertebral bones of, apparently, some liassic enaliosaurian. 
All doubt as to the reality of this discovery, and all idea of 
accounting for the occurrence of such remains by drift, 
must be abandoned) as the fossils found by M'Clintock were 
unquestionably in situ-, and it is impossible to evade the 
consequences that follow to geological theory from their 
discovery. 

Captain Sherard Osborn, also, found broken vertebrae of 
an ichthyosaurus, 150 feet up Rendezvous Hill, the north- 
west extreme of Bathurst Island : of these specimens, one 
lay among a mass of stone that had slipped from the N. W. 
face of the hill ; the other was by the side of a ravine or 
deep watercourse on the southern face of the same elevation. 
I have no doubt but that they were in situ. 

I am well aware that the question of light in the Arctic 
seas will be disposed of by some geologists, who will remind 
us that the saurians, and probably the ammonites, were en- 
dowed with a complicated optical apparatus, rendering them 
capable of using their eyes, not only for the distinct vision 
of objects differing greatly in distance, but also of using 
them, under widely differing conditions of light and dark- 
ness ; and I readily admit the force of such observations. 

But what are we to say as to the question of temperature ? 
It was certainly necessary for an ammonite to have a sea 
free from ice, on which to float and bask in the pale rays of 
the Arctic sun ; and therefore I claim a temperature for 
those seas, at least similar to that which now prevails in the 
British Islands : and I may add that the ammonite, from its 
habits, was essentially dependent on the temperature of the 
air, as well as on that of the water. 

There is at present a difference of 49° 5 F. between the 
mean annual temperature of Point Wilkie and Dublin ; and 
if this change of temperature be supposed to be caused by 
a change of the relative positions of land and water, the 



No. IV. APPENDIX. 309 

temperature of Dublin, or of some place on the same par- 
allel of latitude, must be supposed to be raised to 99° 5 F. ; 
while the temperature of the thermal equator will exceed 
124° — a temperature only a few degrees below that requisite 
to boil an egg ! I reject, without scruple, a theory that re- 
quires such a result, which must be considered as a mini- 
mum ; as it is probable that the ammonite required a finer 
climate than that of Britain for the full enjoyment of his 
existence. 

The theory of central heat, also, appears to' me to be open 
to the same objection, as a mode of explaining this remark- 
able geological fact ; for it will simply add a constant to 
our present climates, leaving the differences to remain, as at 
present, to be accounted for by latitude and distribution of 
land and water. The astronomical theory of Herschel, also, 
which would account for former changes of climate by 
changes in the radiating power of the sun, would only in- 
crease the temperature at each latitude, leaving the differ- 
ences as at present. 

The only speculation with which I am acquainted, which 
is capable of solving this opprobrium geologicorum, is the 
hypothesis of a change in the axis of rotation of the earth, 
the admission of which, as a geological possibility, is math- 
ematically demonstrable, and which has recently had some 
singular evidence in its favor advanced by geologists. In 
1851, I brought forward, at the Geological Society of Dub- 
lin, a case of angular fragments of granite occurring in. the 
carboniferous limestone of the County Dublin ; and ex- 
plained the phenomena by the supposition of the transport- 
ing power of ice. In 1855, Professor Ramsay laid before 
the Geological Society of London a full and detailed theory 
of glaciers and ice as agents concerned in the formation of 
a remarkable breccia, of Permian age, occurring in the cen- 
tral counties of England ; and still more recently the same 
agent has been employed by the geological surveyors of 



310 APPENDIX. No. IV. 

India to account for the transport of materials at geological 
periods long antecedent to those in which ice transport is 
commonly supposed to have commenced. The motion of 
the- earth's axis would reconcile all the facts known, and it 
must be regarded as a geological desideratum to determine 
its amount and direction, and to assign the cause of such a 
movement. The solution of this problem I regard as quite 
possible. 

It is well worthy of remark, that the arguments from the 
occurrence of coal-plants and ammonites strengthen each 
other; the coal-plants rendering the question of Ivjht, and 
the ammonites that of heat, insuperable objections to the 
admission of any received geological hypothesis to account 
for the finding of such remains, in situ, in latitudes so high 
as those of Melville Island, Prince Patrick's Island, and 
Exmouth Island. 

V. — The Superficial Deposits. 

The surface of the ground, where exposed, throughout 
the Arctic Archipelago, does not appear to be covered with 
thick deposits of clay or gravel, such as are found generally 
in the north of Europe, and referred by geologists to what 
they call "the Glacial Epoch." There are not, however, 
wanting abundant evidences of the transport of drift ma- 
terials, and there is some good evidence, collected by Cap- 
tain M'Clintock, of the direction in which the drift was 
moved. 

Specimens of granite, which I have no hesitation in re- 
ferring to the characteristic granite of the west side of 
North Somerset, were found at Leopold Harbor (North 
Somerset) and at Graham Moore Bay (Bathurst Island) ; 
one of these localities is N. E. and the other N. W. of the 
granite of North Somerset, from which I infer that there 
was no constant prevailing direction for the drift ice that 



No. IV. APPENDIX. 3U 

carried these boulders, but that they were transported to the 
northward in various directions, according to the varying 
motion of the currents that moved the ice. The boulder of 
granite at Port Leopold is 100 miles N. E. of the granite- 
which gave origin to it ; and the specimens from Graham 
Moore Bay are 190 miles to the N. W. of their source. 

At Cape Rennell (North Somerset), in a direction inter- 
mediate between the two former directions, a remarkable 
boulder of the same granite was found, confirming the gen- 
eral direction of the transporting force from south to north. 
Its position and size are thus recorded by Captain M'Clin- 
tock : — " Near Cape Rennell we passed a very remarkable 
rounded boulder of gneiss or granite ; it was 6 yards in 
circumference, and stood near the beach, and some 15 or 20 
yards above it; one or two masses of rounded gueiss, 
although very much smaller, had arrested our attention at 
Port Leopold." 

It is well known that Captain Sir Robert M'Clure 
brought home specimens of pine-trees found in the greatest 
abundance in the ravines on the west coast of Baring 
Island ; one of his specimens preserved in the museum of 
the Royal Dublin Society measures 15 inches by 12 inches, 
and contains three knots that prove it formed a portion of 
the stem high above its root. The bark is not found on this 
specimen, which does not represent the full thickness of the 
tree ; I have estimated that this fragment contains 70 rings 
of annual growth. 

Similar remains were found by Captain M'Clintock and 
Lieutenant Mecham in Prince Patrick's Island, and in Wel- 
lington Channel by Sir Edward Belcher. On the coast of 
New Siberia, Lieutenant Anjou found a clay cliff containing 
stems of trees still capable of being nsed as fuel. The 
original observers all agree in thinking that these trees grew 
where they are now found; and Captain Osborne, in men- 
tioning Sir Roderick I. Murchison's opinion that they are 



312 APPENDIX. No. IV. 

drift timber, justly adds the remark, that a sea sufficiently 
free from ice to allow of their being drifted from the south 
would indicate also a climate sufficiently mild to allow of 
their having grown upon the land where they now occur. 
Mr. Hopkins, in his anniversary address as President of the 
Geological Society of London, has published a remarkable 
geological speculation, which would account for the facts 
above mentioned.* So far as the evidence of drift boulders is 
concerned, I have shown that the direction of the currents 
was from the south ; a fact which falls in with the drift 
theory, so far as it goes. 

We cannot, however, dissociate these trees from the facts 
connected with the distribution of the remains of the Sibe- 
rian Mammoth in Asia and America. It is now known 
that this elephant was provided with a warm fur, and that 
his food was of a kind which grows even now in Northern 
Siberia ; so that the drift theory, which was formerly sup- 
posed necessary to account for the occurrence of these re- 
mains, has now been quietly dropped, sub silentio, by the 
geologists. Many other drift theories have, in like manner, 
lived their short day, and gone the way of all false hypo- 
theses ; among others, the drift theory of the oi'igin of coal. 
Further investigation may show that the glacial epoch of 
Europe was one of a very different character in Asia and 
America, and that, while glaciers clothed the sides of Snow- 
don and Lugnaquillia, pine forests flourished in the Parry 
Islands, and the Siberian elephants wandered on the shores 
of a sea washed by the waves of an ocean that carried no 
drifting ice. 

There is abundant evidence, however, that the Arctic 
Archipelago was submerged in very recent geological pe- 
riods ; for we know that subfossil shells, of species that 
now inhabit the waters of the neighboring seas, and found 

* Journ. Geol. Soc. Lond., vol. VIII. p. lxiv. 



No. IV. APPENDIX. 313 

at considerable heights throughout the whole group of 
islands. M'CIure found shells of the Cyprina lslandica, 
at the summit of the Coxcomb range, in Baring Island, at 
an elevation of 500 feet above the sea-level ; Captain 
Parry, also, has recorded the occurrence of Venus (prob- 
ably Cyprina lslandica) on Byam Martin's Island ; and in 
the recent voyage of the ' Fox,' Dr. Walker, the Surgeon 
of the expedition, found the following subfossil shells at 
Port Kenedy, at elevations of from 100 to 500 feet: — 

1. Saxicava rugosa. 

2. Tellina proxima. 

3. Astarle Arctica (Borealis.) 

4. 3Iya Uddevallensis. 

5. 3tya Truncata. 

6. Cardium sp. 

7. JBuccinum undatum. 

8. Acmea testudinalis. 

9. Balanus Uddevallensis. 

At the same place a portion of the palate-bone of a 
whole (Right Whale) was found at an elevation of 150 
feet. 

All these facts indicate the former submergence of the 
Arctic Archipelago, but this submergence must have been 
anterior to the period when pine forests clothed the low 
sandy shores of the slowly emerging islands, the remains of 
which forests now occupy a position at least 100 feet above 
high-water mark. 

The geolgical map which I am enabled to publish from 
the data collected by Captains M'Clintock, M'CIure, Os- 
borne, &c, is an enlargement of that which was published 
in 1857 by the Royal Society of Dublin, to illustrate the 
fine collection of Arctic fossils and minerals deposited in 
the museum of that body by Captains M'Clintock and 
M'CIure. In perfecting it for its present purpose- I have 
availed myself of all the other sources of information within 
my reach, among which I am bound to mention in particular 



314 APPENDIX. No. IV. 

the exellent appendix to Dr. Sutherland's 'Voyage of the 
Lady Franklin and Sophia,' written by Mr. Salter, Palae- 
ontologist of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. 

Many of the mineral specimens of Greenland, and the 
fossils from Cape Riley, Cape Farrand, Point Fury, and 
Brentford Bay, were collected by Dr. David Walker, sur- 
geon and naturalist to the 'Fox' Expedition. 



No. V. 



APPENDIX. 



No. V. 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE « FOX' EXPEDITION. 



£ s.d. 

Acland, Sir T. D. Bart 100 

Adams, Dr. Walter, Edinburg. 3 3 

Aldrich, Captain R.N 110 

Allan, Rob. M., Esq 110 

Allen, Captain Robert 5 5 

Allen, Captain, R.N 2 2 

Ames, Mrs 5 

Ames, Miss 10 

Anon 5 

Armstrong, Mrs ■ 110 

Armstrong, children of Mrs... 8 9 

Arnold, Mrs 110 

Arrowsmkh, John, Esq 5 

Austin, Rear-Adm. Horatio T. 

R.N., C.B 5 

Babbage, Charles, Esq 10 

Baikie, Dr 110 

Baker, Mrs 5 

Barkworth, Geo., Esq 6 

Barras, Miss 110 

Barrett, H. J., Esq 1-0 

Barrow, John, Esq 25 

Barstow, Lieutenant, R.N 10 

Barth, Dr. Henry , 5 6 

Bath, W. J. C, Esq 2 6 

Batty, Mrs. J. M 110 

Beaufort, Rear-Adm. Sir Fran- 
cis, K.C.B 50 

Bell, Thos., Esq., Pres. Linn 

Society 10 10 

Bennett, John S., Esq 5 

Birch, J. W. N., Esq 10 

Bird, Captain, R.N 5 

Birmingham, small sums col- 
lected at Evans' Library.... 3 10 

Booth, Mrs 5 

Borton, Mrs., collected by 1 10 

Boston, collected at, by Mr. 

Morton , 4 4 

Bovill, Walter, Esq 5 

Boyer, Lieut. R.N 10 

Boyle, the Hon. Carolina C... 10 

Biigg, collected at 110 

Brine, Captain, RE 110 

Brooking, J. Holdsworth, Esq. 10 

Brown, Robt., Esq., V.P.L.S. 20 

Brown, John, Esq., 5 5 

Brown, J. E., Esq., R.N 5 

Bruce, the Rev. C 110 

Bnrgoyue, Captaiu, R.N 10 

Burton, Alfred, Esq 110 

Byron, the Hon. Fred 5 

Chesjjey, Maior-General 2 2 

Collinson, Ca'pt., R.N.-, C.B... 20 

Coningham, W., Esq., M.P.... 100 

Coote, C. W., Esq 10 

Coote, Charles, Esq 10 

Courtauld, Samuel, Esq 25 



£ *. d. 

Courtauld, George, Esq 15 

Coutts, Messrs. & Co 50 

Crasp, J., Esq., Surgeon, 63rd 

Regt , 10 

Crauford, John, Esq 5 

Cresswell, S. Gurney, Com- 
mander, R.N 5 

D aloett, P. T., Esq 10 10 

De la Roquette, M., V.P. of 

Geog. Soc. of Paris, 1000 fr.. 40 

Dilke, C. W., Esq 5 

Dixon, James, Esq 10 

Doxat, Alexis, J., Esq 10 10 

Doxat, Miss H., collected by.. 4 

"Dubious" 2 6 

Dufferin, Lord 25 

Edgar, Mrs., collected by 5 

EUesmere, the Earl of. 15 

Elphinstone, the Hon. Mount- 
Stewart 10 

Elton, Sir Arthur H., Bart 5 6 

Emanuel, EzekieJ, Esq 10 

Fairholme, the Hon. Mrs 150 

Filliter, George, Esq 10 

Fitton, Dr 21 

Fortescue, Rev. T. F. G 2 2 

Garling, H.,Esq 110 

Gassiot, J. P., Esq 25 

Gimingham, W., Esq., &Mrs. 2 2 

Gipps, Lady 6 

Gowen, J, R., Esq 5 

Graves, Messrs. Pall Mall 110 

Griffiths, G. H., Esq 5 5 

Gruneisen, Ch. Lewis, Esq.... 110 

Gruneisen, Mrs 110 

Guillemard, the Rev. W. H... 5 

Guillemard, Miss 10 

Hall, James, Esq 5 

Haubury, Mrs 110 

Hardinge, Commander, R.N.. 10 

Hardwicke, Philip, Esq 5 

Harney, Julian, Esq., collect- 
ed by, at Jersey 50 

Heales, Alfred, Esq... 5 5 

Hereing, Miss 2 2 

Hicks, John, Esq 2 

Hill, Col. 63d Reg* 10 

Hodgson, Mrs 10 

Holland, Commander, R.N... 5 

Hollingsworth, H., Esq 2 2 

Holland, Rob., Esq 10 10 

Hooker, Dr. J. D 5 5 

Hornby, Miss Georgina 100 

Hornby, the Rev. Edward 25 

Hornby, Mrs. Edmund 6 



APPENDIX. 



No. V. 



£ 8. d. 
Hornby, Miss Georgina, col- 
lected by 13 4 

Hovell, W. H., Esq 5 5 

Hughes, Lieutenant, R.N 2 

Inglts, Ladv 10 1 

Irby, T. W.", Esq 10 

Jackson, N. "Ward, Esq 21 

Janson, J. C, Esq 5 5 

Jeanes, H. W., Esq., R.N 10 

Jersey " Times" 2 10 

Kkllett, Commodore, C.B. ... 10 

Kendall, Mrs 10 

Kendall, the Rev. Professor... 10 

Key, Lieutenant, R.N 5 

King, William, Esq 5 

Laied, Macgregor, Esq 50 

Laird, John, Esq 25 

L. and N. W 14 

Lanford, J., Esq., Quartermas- 

master 63d Regiment 10 

Langhorne, A., Esq 110 

Larcom, Mrs 10 

Leach, William, Esq 5 5 

Le Feuvre, W. J., Esq' 50 

Lefroy, C. E., Esq 2 

Leicester, the Rev. F 1 1 

Lethbridge, Lieut., R.N 5 

" Lochmaben Castle," Owners 

of the 5 5 9 

Lyall, D., Esq., R.N., M.D.... 5 

Mackintosh, Eneas, Esq 10 

Maguire, Captain, R.N 3 3 

Maitland, Capt. SirThos. R.N. 10 
Majendie, Ashhurst, Esq., and 

Mrs 100 

Servants of the above 14 

Malby, Messrs 6 

Malby, Messrs. Workmen in 

their Establishment by a Sd. 

Subscription 4 11 6 

Mansfield, W. H. S., Esq 10 

Mantell, Dr A. A 10 

Markham, Clements, Esq 110 

Markman. Mrs 10 

M'Rea, Captain, R.N 10 

M'Kinlay, Miss 10 

M'Kinlav, Miss Elizabeth 10 

M'William, Dr., R.N 110 

Merry, W. L., Esq 110 

Morris, Rev. F. B 10 

Morris, Sir Armine, Bart 5 

Murchison, Sir Roderick Im- 

pey, G. C. St. S., President 

of the Roval Geog. Soc 100 

Murray, Jolin, Esq 20 

Nares, Fras , Esq 2 2 

Newall, W. L., Esq , .... 100 

Nicholson, Sir Charles 5 

N. J 2 2 

Norwood, collected at, by a 

Lady 7 15 



£ *. d. 

Ommannet, Captain Erasmus, 

R.N 2 

Osborn, Sir George, Bart 10 

Paget, A. F., Esq 10 6 

Paget, C. H. M., Esq 110 

Pasley, Gen. Sir Charles W., 

K.C.B 10 

Second Subscription 10 

Third Subscription 5 

Pattison, H. L., Esq 50 

Pearce, Stephen, Esq 2 2 

Phillimore, Captain, R.N 2 2 

Pigou, Fred., Esq 10 

Prescott, Vice-Adm. Sir Hen- 
ry, K.C.B 5 

Rawnsley, the Rev. Drum- 

mond 5 

Rawnsley, Mrs., collected by.. 10 
Rawnsley, William, Franklin 

collected by, at Uppingham 

School 10 

Raynsford, Mrs 110 

Reynardson, H. B., Esq 5 

Rogers, Lieut., R.N 10 

Roget, Dr. P. M 5 

Roper, George, Esq 5 5 

Ross, Rear-Adm. Sir Jas. C... 21 

Rupert's Land, Bishop of 5 

Sabine, Major-General 23 

Sadler, W. F., Esq 10 10 

Sefton, the Countess of 10 

Sheaiiey, W., Esq 2 

Sheil, Sir Justin 5 

Shewell, John Tuliniu, Esq... 5 5 

Simpson, J., Esq., R.N 1 10 

Skey, Dr 2 2 

Smith, Eric E., Esq 2 

Smith, John Henry, Esq 10 10 

Smith, Osborn, Esq" 2 2 

Smith, Archibald, Esq 5 5 

Sparrow, James, Esq 5 

St. Asaph, the Bishop of 10 

St. David's, the Bishop of 10 

St. Selger, A. B 5 

Stainton, J. J., Esq 3 3 

Statham, J. L., Esq 110 

Stephenson, Robert, Esq 20 

Stirling, Commander, R..N... 10 

Strzelecki, Count P. de 2.5 

Swinburne, Rear-Admiral ... 30 

Sykes, Col., M.P 5 

Taylor, William, Esq 5 

Tennant, James, Esq 2 

T. H., collected in shillings by. 2 

Thackeray, W. M., Esq 5 

Thompson, J., Esq.... 110 

Tiudal, Commander,' R.N 2 2 

Tinney, W. H., Esq., Q.C 20 

Tite. W., Esq., M.P 50 

Trevelyan, Sir W. C, Bart... 40 

Trevelyan, Lady 10 O 

Trevilian, M. C, Esq 2 2 

Trollope, Commander, R.N... 2 2 



No. V. 



APPENDIX. 



£ s. d. 

Tuckett, Fred., Esq 6 9 

Tudor, J., Esq 30 

Turner, Alfred, Esq 15 

Tweedie, W. M., Esq 6 

Vincent, John, Esq 10 

Walker, James, Esq 21 

"Washington, Capt, R.N., Hy- 

drographer of the Navy... 21 

Waterfleld, Edward, Esq 5 

Wayse, the Rev. J. W 5 

Weld, Charles E., Esq 5 

Wheatstone, Professor 5 

Willes, Hon. Mr. Justice 21 

Wilson, Eobert, Esq 116 

Wittenoom, Mess 110 

Wodehouse, Commander 1 10 

Woodcock, J. Parry, Esq 5 

Worsley, Marcus, Esq 10 

Wright, the Rev. R. F 2 2 



£ s. d. 

Wrottesley, Lord 50 

Young, Charles F., Esq 5 

Young, Miss 5 

Young, A. "Veritv, Esq 2 2 

Yule, Mrs. H 6 

The brother and sisters of the 
late John and Thomas Hart- 
nell, of HMS. ' Erebus,' bu- 
ried at Beechey Island 5 

A Commander, R.N 6 

A Commander in the Mer- 
chant Service 500 

A Friend, C. H 5 

A Friend 10 

The daughters of a retired 

Commander 2 

A Sympathiser 10 

£2981 8 9 



A life-boat, presented by Messrs. White of Cowes. 

A large quantity of preserved potatoes, by Messrs. King, late Edwards. 

Apparatus for lowering a boat at sea, presented by Mr. Clifford, the inventor 

Three traveling tents, by Messrs. Winsor and Newton. 

A stove, by Mr. Rettie. 

20 dozen " Isle of Whi*e sauce," by Mr. Tucker of Newport. 

Apparatus for reefing topsails, from Mr. Cunningham, the inventor. 



THE END. 



GODFREY'S NARRATIVE 

OF THE 

LAST GEINNELL 

% relic €^|Iflring §£$ctti0tt, 

IN SEAKCII OF 

SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, 

r 

185S-4-5. 

with A 

BIOGRAPHY OE DR. ELISHA K. KANE. 

FROM THE 

CRADLE TO THE GRAVE. 

Br 

WM. C. -GODFREY. 

ONE OF THE SURVlVdRS OF TIIE EXPEDITION 

SUPERBLY ILLUSTRATED. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
J. T. LLOYD & CO, 

185?. 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1857, by 

E. LLOYD, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



PHILADELPHIA : 
6TEBE0TYPED BY flEORGB CHARLES. 



PREFACE. 



It has been a cause of deep regret with the author and 
publisher of this Narrative, that the circumstances referred 
to in the last chapter of the book, have delayed the publi- 
cation. As some passages in this volume are very much 
at variance with the common accounts we have of the 
temper and character of Dr. Kane, and likewise reflect 
somewhat on his conduct as a Naval Commander, it would 
have been more satisfactory if these charges had appeared 
during the Doctor's lifetime. But the explanations given 
by Godfrey himself show that the earlier publication of his 
book was impossible ; however anxiously he might desire 
to vindicate himself, and to remove the stains affixed to his 
character by the unfavorable mention made of him in Dr. 
Kane's book. It may be remarked that, if Dr. Kane 
were now living, he could not repel Godfrey's charges 
without a negation of his own statements. He has fully 
admitted, in his journal, the most material facts connected 
with that extraordinary affair — the attempt to take God- 
frey's life. He has not only related those facts distinctly, 
and with very little difference from Godfrey's own account ; 
but he has related them in a manner which seems to call 
for public approbation. This last-mentioned circumstance 
1* (5) 



6 PKEFACE. 

satisfies us that Dr. Kane thought that he was doing his 
duty on that occasion. Perhaps very few persons who 
read his book attentively will come to the same conclusion. 
The circumstances to be considered in connection with this 
matter are : 1. 'That Godfrey had formerly been dismissed 
by his Commander, with permission to return to the United 
States. Did this permission release him from his compact 
to serve for a certain term on board of the Advance ? 2. 
When, under the pressure of starvation, he returned with 
his companions, to solicit relief from Dr. Kane, did thi3 
return renew his original obligations and restore him to his 
former position on board of the vessel ? 3. Could he rea- 
sonably be suspected of an intention to desert in such a 
country as Northern Greenland and in the midst of an Arctic 
winter ? If he did desert, in such circumstances, would 
his example be likely to be followed by others of the brig's 
company ? 4. Was his return to the vessel with a load of 
provisions such an act as might be expected from a de- 
serter ? 5. Was the Commander justified in shooting a man 
for a mere refusal to come on board ? 6. It appears that, 
according to the contract made with the seamen before 
their departure from New York, the strict regulations of 
the Naval service were to be dispensed with on this Expe- 
dition ; the discipline of the brig could not, therefore, 
justify the Commander in resorting to such an extreme 
measure as shooting a man to enforce an order. 

But, as the time has past when Dr. Kane could be held 
responsible for this act, we are disposed to consider it as 
an error of the judgment ; and it may be easier to excuse 
him on that score than to overlook the deliberate wrong 
which he has done to William C. Godfrey by making vague 
charges of delinquency against this man, who appears, even 



PREFACE. 7 

from the Doctor's own statements, to Dave oeen the constant 
friend and benefactor of the whole brig's company. 

It is a remarkable fact that Godfrey appears, in the 
Doctor's narrative, only as a half-pardoned criminal, even 
when accounts are given of signal services performed by 
him at the imminent hazard of his .own life ! And yet we 
have found scarcely any specification of a fault of sufficient 
magnitude to call for a private reprimand ; nevertheless, 
this unfortunate person has been rebuked by his command- 
ing officer before the whole world, and he may even be 
handed down to posterity as an object of distrust and 
abhorrence. 

The death of Dr. Kane does not make it less incumbent 
on our author to clear himself from undeserved censure. If 
any of the Doctor's fellow-voyagers, who profess so much 
love and reverence for the Doctor's memory, can show how 
Godfrey merited the harsh treatment he has received, they 
can do so as easily as Dr. Kane himself could, if he were 
now alive. 

Although the two parties to this singular controversy 
occupied very different positions on board of the exploring 
brig Advance, at the bar of the American public there is 
no recognizable distinction between Elisha K. Kane and 
William 0. Godfrey. We feel confident that the decision 
of the public in this case will be in accordance with the 
dictates of "even-handed justice." 

The merits of this work, as a complete and circumstantial 
history of the last Arctic Exploring Expedition, will bo 
acknowledged, we think, by every candid and intelligent 
reader. 

Philadelphia May 30, 1857. 




PORTRAIT OF DR. KANB. 




WM. C. GODFREY. 



U 



QKINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 1T3 



CHAPTER XVII. 

SEVERAL TRAVELING PARTIES SENT OUT — THEIR ILL 
SUCCESS — MORTON AND HANS CHRISTIAN TRAVEL 
NORTHWARD — THEIR FAMOUS DISCOVERIES — A SEPA- 
RATION OP OUR COMPANY — THE AUTHOR, WITH SEVEN 
COMPANIONS, PERMITTED TO LEAVE THE BRIG — THEY 
TRAVEL SOUTHWARD — ARE OVERTAKEN BY THE WIN- 
TER — THEIR UNPARALLELED SUFFERINGS FROM COLD 
AND FAMINE — THE AUTHOR VISITS AN ESQUIMAUX 
SETTLEMENT — THE GENEROSITY AND BENEVOLENCE OF 
THESE "BARBARIANS" — THEIR HOUSES, MODES 01" 
LIVING, &C. 

For about two weeks after our unsuccessful attempt 
to reach the Humboldt Glacier, the serious illness of 
Dr. Kane prevented him from undertaking any new 
enterprise. As soon as he was well enough to travel, 
he made two unsuccessful attempts to cross the Sound 
with Esquimaux guides. 

Early in June two traveling parties were sent out. 
One of these parties, under the direction of McGarry 
and Bonsall, came to the foot of the Humboldt Glacier, 
which is a perpendicular wall of ice, 250 feet high and 
50 miles long. Finding it impossible to scale this stu- 

\ 



H4 GODFREY'S NARRATIVE OF THE 

pendous embankment, or to proceed any further, they 
returned to the brig. The other traveling party con- 
sisted of two persons only, viz., Mr. Morton and Hans 
Christian. They reached the foot of the glacier on the 
15th day of June, and traveled in their dog-sledge on 
the land-ice of the Sound, crossing Peabody's Bay, and 
bo found a practicable road along the base of the vast 
wall of ice spoken of above. They proceeded, accord- 
ing to Morton's statement, in a direction as nearly 
northward as possible, passing along the edge of Ken- 
neday Channel, which extends from the 80th to the 
81st parallel. Here, as they report, the ice was found 
broken up and the water in a navigable condition. 
They also saw "flocks of geese, ducks, and dovekies," 
and gulls probably ; and Mr. Morton — having ascended 
a berg or knob of ice five hundred feet high — beheld 
" a boundless waste of water, stretching away toward 
the pole." 

If this account given by Morton is correct, it is 
probable that the pole is covered by water. In that 
case it might be difficult for a navigator to put his foot 
on the " earth's pivot," according to the earnest desire 
of Captain Ross, unless the adventurer should happen 
to have more faith than St. Peter, and be able to walk 
on the surface of the sea. I sincerely hope that, for 
the benefit of future explorers, there may be some bet- 
ter means of access to this " open polar sea" than by 
the way of Smith's Sound ; otherwise no vessel of con- 
liderable size will ever be able to reach it. 
[ As the summer drew near its close, it became evident 



GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 115 

that the American brig Advance was one of the perma- 
nent fixtures or "institutions" of the ice-regions. All 
hope of moving her had been pretty nearly abandoned, 
and we began to contemplate the sad necessity of re- 
maining another winter in this gloomy clime. Among 
other troubles in prospect was a scarcity of provisions. 
In order to increase our supplies of eatables, Hans, 
Petersen, and I were almost constantly engaged in 
hunting. We caught or shot a number of white rab- 
bits, foxes of both varieties, white and blue, and a few 
seals. The flesh of these animals, by being allowed to 
freeze, was easily preserved for future use. 

About the latter part of August all hands were sum 
moned on deck, and Dr. Kane, in a formal speech, an 
nounced that such of the men as wished to leave the 
brig for the purpose of traveling homeward, had full 
permission to do so. I perceived that the apprehended 
scarcity of provisions led to this generous offer. As I 
had never enjoyed much comfort, or experienced much 
kindness, on board of the Advance, I was one of the 
first to embrace this opportunity to depart. A majority 
cf the brig's company, viz., Sonntag, Dr. Hayes, Pe- 
tersen, Bonsall, Blake, Riley, Whipple, and Stevenson, 
came to the same conclusion. Our withdrawal left but 
eight persons on board. 

Dr. Kane furnished us with a boat placed on sledge- 
runners, and some few cooking utensils and other arti- 
cles which could be spared from the brig. We bade 
our comrades who stayed behind an affectionate adieu, 
and started on the 2Sth of August — rather too late in 



176 Godfrey's narrative op the 

the season for such an undertaking. Our purpose was 
to proceed by boat or sledge conveyance, as we best 
could, to Upernavick, the most northern Danish settle- 
ment, from whence we expected to find a passage in 
some vessel to our own country. We traveled south- 
ward on the ice some three hundred and fifty miles, 
when the severity of the weather compelled us to go on 
shore and build ourselves a hut. This habitation was 
made of stones, in the Esquimaux style of architecture. 
We covered it, according to our best ability, with oars 
and sails ; nevertheless, it was a rather airy place of 
residence. We were entirely destitute of provisions, 
and were obliged to gather the lichen or rock-moss and 
boil it for our maintenance, although the taste of the 
herb is extremely nauseating, and its nature is decidedly 
unwholesome. We hunted every day, but could find 
no game. Meanwhile, the dark season was coming on 
very rapidly, and our situation became exceedingly pre- 
carious. I constructed several fox-traps, and although 
foxes were very scarce in this neighborhood we had the 
good fortune to catch two of them. As all of our ship 
biscuit had been consumed, we had nothing of the bread 
kind to eat with our fox-meat. In other circumstances, 
we might have thought the taste of this meat unpleasant, 
as it has somewhat of a fishy flavor, but long abstinence 
enabled us to eat it with a good relish. We called our 
hut the " Wanderers' Home," and we made a strong 
effort to feel comfortable and contented in our domestic 
establishment, designing to spend the winter there, if 
possible, and to pursue our journey early in the spring. 



Ik 




GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. ltd 

The average temperature was 50° below zero ; a greater 
degree of cold than we had ever experienced in the 
more northern latitude where the brig was harbored. 

When we had been about a week in this pleasant 
location, we were visited by a party of Esquimaux, who 
were migrating to Cape York, having been starved 
out of their former place of residence, about fifty miles 
further to the North. Although we ourselves were 
rather " hard up" for something to eat, we gave these 
poor wanderers a morsel of food, without any expecta- 
tion that they would ever have it in their power to re- 
ciprocate our kindness. But a good deed, even in this 
" naughty world," often meets with its reward in a most 
unexpected manner. Several days after, the same 
party, with some other Esquimaux, men, women and 
children, making altogether eighteen persons, called 
on us again, having a good stock of provisions, which 
they offered to sell us at our own valuation. The com- 
modities which they wished to dispose of consisted of 
seal and walrus meat, eider-ducks, loons, and other 
water-fowls. 

Before we began to trade, we had a grand entertain- 
ment, our Esquimaux guests supplying the viands and 
we cooking them. It was neither " a feast of reason" 
nor " a flow of soul," for we all ate in the most unrea- 
sonable manner, and thought of nothing but the gratifi- 
cation of our corporal appetites. As a specimen of the 
way in which we used up the eatables at this banquet, 
I will mention that I myself consumed two eider-duck3, 
each of which was larger than any wild duck ever seen 



180 GODFREY'S NARRATIVE OF THE 

in the United States. Dr. Kane, when we were about 
to separate ourselves from his company, had supplied 
us with some beads, needles, and other trifling articles, 
suitable for trading with the natives ; and this was sup- 
posed to be our main resource for supplying ourselves 
with provisions. On the morning after the arrival of 
our native guests, we applied ourselves to business and 
obtained a good stock of food and other necessaries on 
very easy terms. I "swapped" an old jack-knife with 
one of the Esquimaux gentlemen for a pair of excellent 
bear-skin boots, each of us believing that we had got 
the best of the bargain. A string of small beads, worth 
about two cents in the United States, was considered 
as a fair price for a pair of eider-ducks or a good 
large lump of walrus-meat. When our visitors were 
about to. depart, after we had traded to our mutual sat- 
isfaction, they invited me to accompany them to their 
settlement. I did so with a great deal of pleasure, as 
I wished to examine their modes of life; however, 
having some speculation in my eyes, I took with me 
some large sewing needles, several articles of cheap 
jewelry, some beads, &c, which I designed to barter 
with the inhabitants of the settlement for articles of 
food and clothing. Our Esquimaux friends traveled in 
dog-sledges, six of which they had with them and a 
team of four dogs to each sled. One of the company, 
named Colootna, offered me a seat in his vehicle, and we 
set out in very high spirits, although the thermometer 
was 48° below zero. The settlement was sixty miles 
from our hut, and we reached it in about eighteen 



GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 181 

hours. On the way, we gave chase to a bear, who kept 
us in pursuit of him for six hours, and then escaped by 
a very "cute trick," diving under an ice floe and ap- 
pearing on the other side, entirely beyond our reach. 
He looked back .at us, as I imagined, with a comical ex- 
pression of countenance, as if he would have said, " You 
couldn't come it that time, my boys." He was a fine 
fat old fellow and promised to afford some capital eating. 
His escape was a source of bitter disappointment to my 
Esquimaux companions, and some of the women and 
children of the party cried very heartily when tho bear 
gave us the slip. 

When we arrived at the settlement, the " barbarous 
people showed me not a little kindness," treating me 
in the most generous and hospitable manner. I re- 
mained with them for two or three days, in order to 
cultivate their acquaintance and open the way for a 
regular trade, which might be the means of supplying 
our party with food during the winter. The habita- 
tions of the Esquimaux savages are of a very singular 
construction. They are of a circular shape with round 
dome-like tops ; the diameter of the building never ex- 
ceeding eight or ten feet. The height of the dome, in 
the centre, is about equal to the diameter of the hut. 
The entrance consists of a low arched- way, two feet high 
and six feet in length. The opening of this archway 
is just large enough for a man to creep through on his 
hands and knees, and every one who enters must do so 
in this humiliating manner. Around the interior of the 
hut, half way between the floor and the ceiling, there 
16 



182 GODFREY^ NARRATIVE OF THE 

is a gallery made of stone, like all the other parts of 
the building — leaving in the centre of the hut an area 
not more than three feet in diameter. The occupants 
of the dwelling live and sleep in the gallery, where their 
bedding, consisting of moss and skins, is disposed. The 
cooking is done by a lamp, rudely constructed of stone, 
which stands on the edge of the platform or gallery 
whereon the family sit when they are awake and lie 
when they are asleep. The cooking lamp is fed with 
the blubjber of the seal or walrus. 

As the hut is made almost air-tight, having no aper- 
ture except the little door, partially guarded from the 
cold external atmosphere by the long arch-way described 
above, the interior of the dwelling is quite warm. 
The heat of the cooking-lamp, which is kept always 
burning, together with the breath and vital heat of the 
occupants, is sufficient to make the apartment comfort- 
able ; and indeed too warm for persons who are not 
accustomed to the Esquimaux modes of living. 

When I had made all the purchases I desired, and 
signified my wish to return to my companions, my 
friend Colootna conveyed me home in his dog-sledge. 
My comrades were glad to see me, and (as I suspect,) 
were still better pleased to see the additional stock of 
provisions I had brought with me. Some of them 
were in very bad health, and all were, more or less, 
afflicted with the blue devils. They suffered consider- 
ably from the cold likewise, for our house was not as 
comfortable as the dwellings of the Esquimaux. My 
companions were very much divided in opinion respect- 



GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 183 

mg the proper course to be pursued. Some were for 
remaining where we were until Spring, and then pro- 
ceeding on our way to Upernavick ; some wished to pass 
the winter at the neighboring Esquimaux settlement; 
and some were desirous of returning immediately to the 
brig. The last-mentioned expedient was less accepta- 
ble to me then either of the others. I considered that 
we had, to all intents and purposes, been dismissed from 
our vessel, because our Commander thought that his 
family was larger than he could well maintain ; and as 
wo had received our portions, like so many prodigal 
sons, and been set adrift, I preferred living on husks 
or moss, or any thing else, to going back with expres- 
sions of contrition and making a pitiful appeal to the 
benevolence of Dr. Kane. 

A few weeks had passed away, and we had not yet 
resolved what to do. Our stock of provisions had 
nearly run out. Several of our men were sick, and 
nearly all were haunted by gloomy anticipations. Karl 
Petersen and I had some energy and resolution left, and 
we had health and strength enough to attempt something 
for the relief of our companions. We walked to the Esqui- 
maux village, sixty miles over the ice, the thermometer 
fifty degrees below zero. Incessant exercise was necessa- 
ry to keep us from frezing. We could not stop a moment 
for rest or refreshment, and we could not sleep on the way 
as we had no tent or bedding. We finished the journey 
in eighteen hours, traveling without intermision ; and 
this was extraordinary speed, considering our benumbed 



184 Godfrey's narrative of the 

condition and the disabling effect of spare diet. Our 
only food on the "way consisted of a little dried walrus- 
meat, on which we breakfasted, dined and supped, as 
we walked. When we arrived at the settlement, we 
staggered like drunkards, being completely unnerved 
by fatigue and exhaustion. 

After all our labor we were doomed to meet with a 
great disappointment. The inhabitants of the settle- 
ment, according to the usual improvident habits of the 
Esquimaux, had exhausted nearly all their provisions 
by continual feasting, and they were now almost as 
badly provided with food as we ourselves were. The 
young men of the village were absent on a seal and 
walrus-hunting expedition ; and as they had been away 
longer than usual, it was thought that they had met 
with but little success. Nevertheless, the benevolent 
savages took pity on our wretched condition, and spared 
us a little food from their scanty stores. As the prin- 
cipal men of the village were absent with their dog- 
sledges, we could obtain no conveyance back to our 
home, and were obliged to return on foot with the little 
meat we had obtained, after resting ourselves for a few 
hours. We made as little delay as possible, for those 
of our company who remained at the hut were suffering 
for want of victuals. We carried the small stock of 
walrus-meat we had obtained from the Esquimaux, 
strapped on our backs. The load was not very op- 
pressive, it is true, but it added somewhat to the weari- 
someness of our journey. When about half-way to our 



GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



135 



dwelling-place, I was unlucky enough to sprain my 
ankle while attempting to leap over a chasm in the ice 
ten feet wide. This accident added very much to my 
sufferings during the remainder of our walk ; and my 
lameness was the cause of considerable delay, prolong 
ing the journey to twenty-five hours. 




GODFREY'S CORDIAL PUIS THE ESQUIMAUX TO SLEEP. 
16* 



186 GOD!FBEY ? S NARRATIVE OP THE 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE AUTHOR AND HIS PARTY ENDURE ALL THE HORRORS 
OF FAMINE — THEY RESOLVE TO RETURN TO THE BRIG 
— THE AUTHOR'S RELUCTANCE TO GO BACK — HE COM- 
PLIES WITH THE WISHES OF THE MAJORITY — ANOTHER 
TROUBLESOME JOURNEY — THE ESQUIMAUX TRY TO 
OUT-YANKEE THE YANKEES — THEY MISS THEIR FIGURE 
— VIRTUES OF " GODFREY'S CORDIAL" — THE AUTHOR'S 
SUCCESSFUL STRATAGEM. 

The last supply of provisions obtained by Petersen 
and I was consumed within two or three days, except 
about fifteen pounds of walrus-meat, which, although 
frozen, was in an advanced stage of putrefaction. The 
mention of this circumstance may surprise the reader ; 
but while I remained in the polar regions, I had fre- 
quent proofs of the fact, that extreme cold is sometimes 
almost as conducive as extreme heat to the decomposi- 
tion of animal matter. On this meat, offensive as it 
was, we were obliged to subsist for two days. At the 
end of that time an Esquimaux hunter stopped at our 
hut with his dog-sledge. As there was no hope of re- 
lief from any other quarter, my companions wished to 
engage this Esquimaux to convey one or two of our 
company to the brig, to solicit D* Kane for a barrel 



GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 187 

of ship-biscuit, or something else which might be the 
means of sustaining our lives. Petersen and I were 
requested to go on this mission ; but I informed my 
fellow-sufferers that I could not on any account become 
a petitioner to Dr. Kane. I had reason to think that 
he was prejudiced against me, and I should prefer 
starving in that icy wilderness to becoming a pensioner 
on his bounty. I told them that I was willing to un- 
dertake any other journey, or to attempt any thing 
else for their relief, even if the attempt required the 
sacrifice of my own life, but they must find some other 
messenger to perform the errand they now had in con- 
templation. After some debate, it was determined that 
Bonsall and Petersen should be the begging embassa- 
dors to Dr. Kane. The Esquimaux, who undertook to 
carry them in his sledge, was promised a reward on his 
arrival at the vessel. I learned afterward that the 
strength of the dog-team proved inadequate to the con- 
veyance of the three men ; and at the end of the first 
eighty miles the animals were^-completely worn out, so 
that a sort of " rotation in office" became necessary, 
the dogs being placed in the sledge while the men 
hauled it. 

In this unusual style of traveling they proceeded 
fifty miles further, when they fell in with a large party 
of Esquimaux hunters, and after some conversation it 
was agreed that they should all go to the brig together, 
The hunters had sledge-room enough to accommodate 
the whole party, and so our messengers sped much bet- 
ter than they had expected. Bonsall and Petersen did 



188 GODFREY'S NARRATIVE OP THE 

not return ; but as soon as they gave Dr. Kane an ac- 
count of our starving condition, that gentleman very 
promptly dispatched some provisions for us by the Es- 
quimaux hunters, detaining one of their number as a 
" hostage" for the safe delivery of the articles. 

In the meanwhile, I had been making all possible 
exertions to obtain food by hunting, trapping, &c, in 
which operations my remaining companions were too 
sickly or feeble to give me any assistance. Four or 
five days after the departure of the messengers, my 
comrades informed me that they themselves had come 
to the determination to go to the brig, and earnestly 
entreated me to accompany them. I consented, be- 
cause I saw very plainly that they were not able to 
take care of themselves. After making all the prepa- 
ration that was necessary we started; and, oh reader, 
how shall I give you the faintest idea of the tribulation 
I experienced on the way ! When I had performed the 
part of dry-nurse for ten or twelve hours, and waa 
almost distracted by the multiplicity of my cares and 
duties, we met the Esquimaux hunters who had been 
sent from the vessel with some provisions for our use. 
They had five sledges, with teams of six dogs each. 
Both parties came to a halt ; and after the usual salu- 
tations, arrangements were made for cooking a meal. 
The Doctor had sent us some biscuit and salt pork, and 
we soon had a good kettle of "scouse" in the course 
of preparation. In the meanwhile, we tampered with 
our craving appetites by nibbling dry biscuit. As soon 
as the repast was finished, the Esquimaux divided our 



GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 189 

company, consisting of six persons, into five lots, so 
that four of the sleds should carry one man each, and 
the fifth one two. As soon as we were all on board, 
we went off in gallant style, and put sixty miles behind 
us in the first ten hours. At the end of that time we 
halted, pitched our tents, and enjoyed a most refresh- 
ing sleep, as the gnawings of conscience or hunger did 
not interrupt our repose. 

The next day our Esquimaux drivers held a consulta- 
tion apart, and appeared to-be debating some subject 
of importance, in their own estimation at least. The 
conference being over, they approached us and gave us 
to understand that four of them, with the same number 
of sledges, would be obliged to visit the place of their 
abode on business of great consequence. Two of their 
men and one sledge would remain with us, until the 
other members of their party should return. They 
would also leave us a tent and every thing necessary 
for our comfort. Though very much vexed at this de- 
tention, we felt that we had no right to object to the 
proposed plans, as these people were certainly pri- 
vileged to attend to their own affairs before ours. 
Soon after, four of the hunters drove off in a different 
direction from that we had lately been traveling. They 
had scarcely been gone an hour, before the two remain- 
ing Esquimaux announced that it had just come to 
their recollection that they would be obliged to go too; 
and they began to hitch up the last dog-team for that 
purpose. I new became suspicious of a trick, and re- 
solved that these fellows should not out-jockey me. 



190 Godfrey's narrative of the 

Happening to have a small book of "Ethiopian Melo- 
dies" in my pocket, I took it out and examined a page 
with the most earnest attention ; then, putting on a 
very gloomy aspect, I informed the two hunters that 
they had chosen the most unlucky day in the whole 
year for this new journey. " After we have slept once 
more," said I, " the danger will he over, and you can 
then start as soon as you please, without any fear of 
the consequences." Finding that I had made some 
impression on their superstitious feelings, I endeavored 
to touch them on another assailable point, by promising 
them a capital supper. The gluttonous proclivities of 
the Esquimaux made this last argument a clincher. 
Our two gentlemen were persuaded to pass the night 
with us ; and, while I prepared for them a bountiful 
supper, according to promise, my mind was occupied 
with painful reflections on the new embarrassments 
■which now presented themselves. I saw very plainly 
that these Esquimaux, for some reason or other, wished 
to desert us ; and it was equally evident that, if we 
should be abandoned in that place, the consequences 
would be fatal to some of my sick companions. I could 
see but one or two ways of extricating ourselves from 
.the difficulty. I did not doubt our ability to compel 
these two savages to convey us to the brig ; but know- 
ing these people to be unwarlike and cowardly in their 
disposition, I was unwilling to take advantage of these 
defects of character. My intercourse with the native 
tribes had taught me that all kinds of trickery with 
them is considered fair and honorable. They are 



UEINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 19,i[ 

always ready to practice a ruse, or to excuse others for 
the same propensity. I determined, therefore, to com- 
bat them with their own weapons ; but nothing but the 
desperate circumstances in which I was placed could 
have induced me to use the stratagem, of which I am 
about to give an account. Convinced that it was an 
affair of life or death, for Dr. Hayes and two others of 
my party appeared to be almost in the last extremity, 
and were likely to die for want of medical assistance, I 
resolved that no time should be lost in the conveyance 
of these sufferers to the vessel, where alone they could 
meet with the attentions they required. I endeavored 
to touch the humane feelings of the two Esquimaux, by 
explaining to them the dangerous situation of my com- 
rades ; but these representations did not answer the 
purpose ; it was plain that they had made up their 
minds not to go to the brig. Their obstinacy in this 
matter was unaccountable to me at that time, but the 
mystery was cleared up afterward. When these 
hunters and their associates conveyed Bonsall and 
Petersen to the brig, as I have previously related, Dr. 
Kane feasted them in his cabin, and they embraced 
that opportunity to steal some of the Doctor's knives, 
forks, spoons, and every other small article that could 
possibly be carried off without too much risk of detec- 
tion. They had likewise committed another piece cf 
knavery, by throwing away some of the provisions 
which they had engaged to carry to our party at 
"Wanderers' Home," notwithstanding they had left 
one of their company as a hostage for the safe delivery 
17 



194 GODFREY'S NARRATIVE OF THE 

of these provisions. These deeds of delinquency made 
them afraid to revisit the brig, where they might expect 
to be held accountable for their rascality. 

Finding that the two native hunters could not be 
persuaded or induced to help us on our way, and being 
now satisfied that they had resolved to leave us on the 
ice, I perceived that it would be necessary to turn the 
joke on themselves. Among other trumpery in our 
baggage department, there were a few bottles of medi- 
cines. One of these nostrums, labeled " Godfrey's 
Cordial" appeared to have been invented by some 
namesake of mine, with whom I cannot claim the honor 
of a personal acquaintance. However, the physic is 
considered to be '■' a safe and pleasant remedy for colic, 
griping pains, and other diseases to which children are 
liable." I had known it to be given to peevish infants, 
to make them sleep, and its virtue as an opiate was the 
circumstance that chiefly recommended it to my notice 
at that time. Having prepared a pot of " scouse" ex- 
pressly for the entertainment of our faithful Esquimaux 
carriers, I seasoned the mess with a pretty large dose 
of the anodyne mixture. This preparation was greedily 
swallowed by my two patients, who were too intent on 
gratifying their own appetites to observe that my com- 
panions and I did not partake of the same dish. After 
awhile, perceiving that they were becoming drowsy, I 
advised them to put themselves to bed in the tent. 
As an Esquimaux is always willing to eat or sleep, they 
readily took my counsel, and were soon locked up 
tightly in the embrace of the poppy-crowned deity. I 



GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 195 

then deposited in the tent provisions enough to serve 
them for two or three days, — (which was as much as I 
could spare,) — and having hitched up the dog- team, we 
placed our invalids in the sledge, wrapped them up 
well in huffalo skins and blankets, and started off at full 
speed. Hayes, Sonntag, and Stevenson occupied the 
sledge ; and as the dogs could not conveniently drag a 
heavier load, Blake, Whipple, and I, being the healthiest 
men of the party, ran on behind and assisted the dogs, 
by pushing against the back of the sledge. I really 
am not casuist enough to know whether my conduct ia 
this affair was justifiable or not. It was certainly an 
unjust act to take possession of a sled and dog-team 
which did not belong to us ; but then the question 
arises, would it not have been a greater fault to allow 
our sick people to perish on the ice ? I was placed 
between the horns of a moral dilemma, so that it was 
impossible for me to take any course with which my 
conscience would have been perfectly satisfied. Some 
time after this occurrence, I met with one of the natives 
whom I had tricked ; he gave me full credit for my in- 
genuity, and was so excessively complimentary, as to 
say that I deserved to be an Esquimaux. He gave me 
a humorous account of the astonishment of himself and 
his comrade when they awoke, and found that they had 
been outwitted by the white men ; and he begged me to 
supply him with some of the "sleepy stuff," as he 
thought it would be a good joke to try its effects ©a 
some of his countrymen. 

When our party had traveled, in the manner I have 



198 - GODFREYS NARRATIVE OP THE 

described, about eight hours, we came to an Esquimaux 
settlement, where we stopped to repose. Here I met 
with two of the hunters who had deserted us on the 
preceding day. They were very much surprised to see 
us at that place. I informed them that we had bor- 
rowed the sledge and dog-team from their associates, 
who were waiting at the tent in expectation of their 
arrival, according to promise. As they never had any 
intention to go back, and knew that their friends did 
not expect them, my story did not obtain much credit. 
They appeared to be apprehensive that we had done 
their companions some mischief, and when I parted 
from them, they were about to start for the place where 
we had left my two slumbering patients. I sent word 
to the victimized hunters that whenever it suited their 
convenience to come to the brig, their sledge and dog- 
team would be returned, and the owners should be suita- 
bly recompensed for the use of them. 



GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. X9*7 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE WANDERERS RETURN TO THE BRIG — SOME OF I HEM 
ARE TAKEN SICK — DR. HAYES HAS HIS TOES CUT OF]? 
-STARVATION ON SHIPBOARD — PREVALENCE OF THE 
SCURVY — THE MEN DYING FOR WANT OF FRESH PRO- 
VISIONS — SEVERAL PARTIES SENT OUT TO PROCURE 
FOOD — THE COLD DRIVES THEM BACK — THE AUTHOR'S 
SOLITARY JOURNEY OF NINETY-FIVE MILES — HIS DAR- 
ING ENTERPRISE SUCCEEDS — HE OBTAINS A SUPPLY OF 
FRESH MEAT — MORE OF HANS CHRISTIAN'S LOVE AF- 
FAIR. 

We traveled as rapidly as the strength of the dogs 
would permit, timing matters so as to stop for rest at 
the different Esquimaux settlements on the "^ay. The 
natives treated us with uniform kindness at the several 
villages where we halted ; and I believe that some of 
our invalids would have died on the way, but for the 
relief afforded them by the hospitality of the " savages." 
"We reached the brig on the 12th of December, having 
been absent more than three months. Famine, disease, 
and long suffering had made such havoc in our personal 
appearance that our friends on board could scarcely 
recognize us ; certainly a more ghastly company was 
never seen on the deck of an hermaphrodite brig. The 
17* 



198 GODFREY'S NARRATIVE OF THE 

sick people were immediately put to bed. Some of 
them were found to be in a very bad condition. Sonn- 
tag, Blake, and Stevenson were quite ill for several 
weeks ; and Dr. Hayes was obliged to part with his 
toes, as his feet had been badly frozen. This toeless 
condition, by the way, was one of our arctic fashions, 
as a considerable proportion of our company had been 
Subjected to that kind of trimming ; though, (if a bad 
pun may be excused,) few of us could well afford to 
have our understandings retrenched. 

We found that those of our men who had remained 
on board had suffered rather severely, though their sit- 
uation exposed them to much less hardship than our 
party of wanderers had sustained. Our second winter 
in the polar regions was more calamitous than the first. 
Of course, the longer we remained there the more our 
stock of provisions and fuel must become exhausted. 
The commodities we had brought out for the purpose 
of trading with the Esquimaux were nearly expended ; 
the consequence was, that the supplies of fresh meat 
which we"had hitherto obtained from the natives now 
became more scanty. Latterly, these people had visited 
us but seldom, as they never leave their houses in the 
winter except in cases of absolute necessity. The want 
of fresh meat caused the scurvy to prevail among us 
more extensively than ever. In the latter part of De- 
cember nearly all of our men were sick ; and it was 
very perceptible that unless they could have the benefit 
of a salutary change of diet, the death of some of them 
Would be inevitable. The dogs were dying in great 



GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 199 

numbers — literally starving to death. In this contin- 
gency, Dr. Kane and Petersen started in a dog-sledge 
for the nearest Esquimaux settlement, called Etah, 
with the hope of procuring some meat ; but the seventy 
of the cold compelled them to turn back before they 
had accomplished their purpose. Several other parties 
were sent out with the same result. At last Dr. Kane 
dispatched Hans Christian on a similar mission, having 
a notion that the hardihood of this young native would 
enable him to perform the task. Hans gave me an expres- 
sive glance when he took his departure, and I judged 
then that he did not intend to return. I mentioned 
in a former part of this narrative that he had entrusted 
me with the secret of a love affair in Avhich he was en- 
gaged, and I suspected that he was now about to settle 
down as a married man. The event seemed to confirm 
my suspicions, for he remained absent for more than 
three weeks. 

In the meanwhile, the state of affairs on board be- 
came almost desperate. Several of our men appeared 
to be at the point of death ; their sufferings were most 
distressing ; and all this misery proceeded from the 
want of suitable food ; and it appeared to me that, with 
a little energetic exertion, this necessary article might 
be obtained. As I was in good health, and was always 
willing to undertake any labor for the good of our little 
community, I wondered that our commander did not 
Bend me on a provision-hunting expedition, as every 
other healthy man on board had been dispatched on 
this errand. The reason why he did not send me has 



200 



Godfrey's narrative of the 



been subsequently explained by the Commander himself. 
He was " afraid that I might meet or waylay Hana 
Christian on the route and murder him !" Good heavens ! 
how could Dr. Kane have harbored the suspicion that it 
was possible for me to -perpetrate such a crime? Had 
he ever seen anything assassin-like in my conduct ? 
When the reader has accompanied me through this 
narrative, he may come to the conclusion that Dr. 
Kane himself was quite as likely to commit such a deed 
of blood as William Godfrey. I never attempted to 
shoot a man on a slight provocation, and without any 
coloring of law T or justice ; nor have I ever shown a 
disposition to assail the person or the reputation of a 
man whom I supposed to be defenseless. Were Dr. 
Kane now living, I should speak of the events I- am 
about to record in a manner which might be unpleasant 
to the feelings of his enthusiastic admirers; but as the 
man who was my enemy without a cause has gone to 
his final account, I shall say no more than is absolutely 
necessary for my own vindication. 

Among other unwarrantable liberties which Dr. 
Kane has taken with my name and character, I find 
the following mention of me in his published journal : 
" I had on board a couple of men, William Godfrey and 
John Blake, whose former history I would like to know 
— bad follows both of them; but daring, energetic and 
strong." If Dr. Kane had any curiosity to know my 
"former history" he might have been gratified, if he 
had merely hinted his wishes to myself. I could have 
told him a tale, not of crime but of sorrow, which might 



GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION 201 

have disarmed his prejudices and iU-will. As the name 
of John Blake appears above, in an unfortunate con- 
nection, I must do him the justice to say, that I know 
no reason why he deserved to be called a " bad fellow," 
more than any other person on board of the brig Ad- 
vance, except that it was his misfortune, as well as 
mine, not to please Dr. Kane. He was no hypocrite, 
•no sycophant, he was not slavishly submissive to his 
superior, he would swear a little sometimes, and would 
occasionally go to sleep in the midst of one of the 
Doctor's religious exhortations ; and I believe that was 
the most damnable sin that the recording; ans;ei ever 
set down to his account. For all these things Blake 
did penance, and is therefore, (according to the Catho- 
lic doctrine,) entitled to forgiveness ; unless it should 
be urged that his penance was involuntary. Once, 
when he complained of being unwell, and showed a dis- 
inclination for some task which the Doctor imposed on 
him, our " mild and gentle" Commander struck him on 
the head with a handspike, inflicting a wound which 
placed his life at some hazard. 

To show how apt Dr. Kane was to misconstrue a 
man's character, I will refer to the glowingly favorable 
account he has given of that " pious youth," Hans 
Christian. This sly and sedate individual had the au- 
dacity to fall in love without his Commander's permis- 
sion, and while he was professing the most unbounded 
affection for the Doctor, and declaring his perfect satis- 
faction with his situation on board of the Advance, he was 
making preparations to " vamoose" at the first opportu- 



202 GODFREY'S NARRATIVE OF THE 

nit j. I have confessed that he made me acquainted with, 
his design ; for which I could not blame him, as his term 
of service had expired, and he had a right to follow his 
own inclinations. I thought so at least, and I did not 
choose to become an informer. 

It was mentioned above that Hans had been sent to 
the settlement of Etah for provisions. He had been 
absent several weeks, and but one person on board 
could guess at the cause of his detention. Meanwhile 
the sickness and distress on board increased daily, 
until I could bear the sight of my comrades' misery no 
longer. As I had once been dismissed from the brig, 
and had never entered into any new contract with the 
Commander, I considered myself under no obligation 
to wait for the orders which I saw plainly that he did 
not intend to give. Believing that it was in my power 
to supply my companions with the means of health and 
comfort, I resolved to start forthwith for the Esqui- 
maux vilhige. I did not ask Dr. Kane's permission, 
for (several reasons. 1. I thought that such an appli- 
cation to him would be an acknowledgment of his au- 
thority to control my movements. 2. I had reason to 
believe that he would not give his consent. 3. He 
might forbid me to go ; and I judged that if it were a 
fault for me to go without orders, it would be a still 
greater fault to go against orders. 

Without making any communication to Dr. Kane on 
the subject, I started on foot, about the latter part of 
February, 1854, and walked ninety-five miles over the 
ice to the Esquimaux village called Etah. Several of 



GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 203 

our company, including Dr. Kane himself, had at differ- 
ent times, attempted to make this journey in dog- 
sledges, but were driven back by the severity of the 
cold. I traveled the whole distance on foot, without 
pausing to rest but once, and with nothing to eat during 
the whole walk except two hard biscuits. The reader 
will observe that I was obliged to keep in constant 
motion to avoid freezing, as I had no blanket or 
buffalo-skin to wrap myself in if I felt disposed to sleep. 
I had the ill-luck to encounter a severe snow-storm 
when about half-way, and I took shelter under the lee 
of an ice-hill, where I remained for two hours, at the 
great risk of my life ; for had I fallen asleep I might 
have awaked in heaven. Had I kept on while the snow 
was falling rapidly, I would probably have been struck 
with snow-blindness-; in that case I should have lost 
my way, having no companion to guide me, and I must 
have perished. Traveling alone in these regions is so 
very dangerous, that unless a man knows well what he 
can endure, he should never undertake it. I made 
this journej'' in thirty hours. 

On my arrival at Etah, I found our truant, Hans 
Christian, domesticated in the hut of his intended 
father-in-law. He excused himself for not coming 
back with the sledge and provisions, by. stating that he 
had been very sick. I judged that he had merely been 
love-sick ; but knowing how to excuse a lover's foibles, 
I did not reproach him. Kalutunah, Shangheu and 
some other distinguished citizens of Etah, prepared a 
rich banquet of seal-meat in honor of my arrival, and 



204 Godfrey's narrative of the 

they appeared to be much grieved when they under- 
stood that I could make but a short stay. When I 
made them acquainted "with the destitution of my com- 
panions on shipboard, they made a contribution of 
seal and walrus-flesh, amounting to about 450 pounds, 
for which I was unable to offer them any recompense, 
and none was demanded. After resting myself for 
four hours, I took the sledge and dog-team which Hans 
had brought to the settlement with him, and having 
put the provisions which had been given me on board, 
I took leave of my friends and started on my return. 
Before I left, however, I advised Hans Christian to 
come back and stay with us a little while longer, as I 
thought it probably that the Expedition would proceed 
homeward in the Spring ; and in that case, Hans would 
be honorably dismissed from the service, as he would 
not be expected to leave his native country. In com- 
pliance with my advice, he promised to return to the 
brig as soon as an opportunity offered. 



GBINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 205 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE AUTHOR RETURNS TO THE BRIG "WITH A LOAD OF 
FRESH MEAT — HIS WARM RECEPTION — HE BECOMES A 
TARGET FOR PISTOL AND RIFLE PRACTICE — REFUSES 
TO COME ON BOARD — DR. KANE AND BONSALL TRY 
TO COMPEL HIM — HE TREATS THE DOCTOR DISRE- 
SPECTFULLY AND RETIRES UNDER A GALLING FIRE — 
HIS DESPERATE JOURNEY BACK TO ETAH — HE 13 
OVERPOWERED BY THE COLD, AND SINKS DOWN IN A 
SNOW-DRIFT — HIS PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE. 

As my dogs were fresh and vigorous, after their loDg 
rest at the settlement, they traveled very rapidly. As 
my business was urgent, I stopped but two or three 
times on the way, and then only long enough to feed 
the animals and give them a little rest. I felt some 
doubts arising as to the reception I should meet with 
when I arrived at the vessel, but I hoped that my suc- 
cess in procuring food for the starving people would be 
a sufficient apology for my unauthorized absence. I 
made up mind, however, not to go on board until I was 
assured of meeting with friendly treatment. When 
about fifty yards from the vessel, I stopped and hailed 
with the customary, " Ship ahoy !" Bonsall appeared 
at the side, and I requested him to call up Dr. Kano. 
18 



206 GODFREY'S NARRATIVE OP THE 

The commander soon presented himself, and I accosted 
him as nearly as I can remember with the following i 
■words : " Dr. Kane, I have brought some fresh provi- 
sions for the use of my suffering companions. I am 
about to return for some more, and I hope you will 
send some of your men to take these on board." lie 
did not answer me for several minutes, but appeared to 
be reflecting what he should do. At length he said, 
" William, you had better come on board." I replied, 
"That is unnecessary, Dr. Kane; here is the meat; 
will you be kind enough to send some of your people for 
it ?" He then said, in a peremptory tone, " I tell you, 
you must come on board." To this I promptly answered, 
" I will not." " If you do not," said he, " I will shoot 
you !" During this conversation, Dr. Kane had de- 
scended from the vessel's side to the ice and approached 
me. I met him half way, and when he spoke of shoot- 
ing me, we were scarcely two yards apart. He put his 
hand into his pocket, as if to draw out a pistol. "Dr. 
Kane," said I, "you cannot frighten me in this way, 
and I thought that you knew me too well to make the 
attempt. Hans was sick and not able to come with 
the provisions ; I have brought them, and ask you to 
apply them to the relief of your starving crew. Is this 
an offense which deserves capital punishment?" He 
replied, "I do not punish you for bringing the provi- 
sions, but for leaving your vessel without permission." 
Said I : " I have been discharged from the brig, and 
am no longer under your command; but had you 
treated me in a proper manner, I would have remained 



GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. .209 

•with you as long as my services were required." To 
this he answered, "If you will not come on board, 
come nearer the side, while I try to convince you that 
you are under a mistake." 

I complied with this request, and, as soon as we came 
near the companion-way, the Doctor called for Bonsall, 
who immediately came down on the ice. The Doctor 
then repeated, "You must go on board." Said I: 
" If you choose to murder me, you may ; but go on 
board I will not." Dr. Kane then drew a pistol and 
gave it to Bonsall, directing him to shoot me if I at- 
tempted to go away. The Doctor then ascended the 
companion-ladder, and went on board. I turned to 
Bonsall and said, " Comrade, do you intend to shoot 
me?" He answered, " I will shoot you, if you offer to 
leave the side of the brig." "Then," said I, "you 
must shoot, for I am going this moment;" and I suited 
the action to the word, walking very deliberately toward 
my sledge. Bonsall presented his pistol and pulled the 
trigger, but the cap exploded without communicating 
with the charge. Dr. Kane now appeared on deck, 
and seeing me in the act of walking off, he snatched a 
rifle from the gun-stand, for the purpose of shooting 
me, as he fully admits in his journal; but, owing to 
his haste in handling the weapon, it went off before he 
could bring it to bear. He caught up another rifle, 
cocked it, took deliberate aim, and fired. The bullet 
whistled as it passed my head ; but God, being more 
merciful than this amiable and saintly naval officer, 
protected me from harm. I then bowed to the Doctor, 
18* 



210 Godfrey's narrative op the 

in acknowledgment of his intended kindness, and ad- 
vised him to go below and compose himself. " When 
your nerves are steadier," said I, "perhaps you may 
shoot with more effect." He stood gazing at me as if 
astonished at my audacity. I walked a few paces 
further, and then turned and addressed him again : 
" Dr. Kane, as you will not order your men to unload 
'the sledge, I shall have to go back without it. But no 
matter; I have walked to Etah once, and I can do so 
again. I shall borrow a sledge there, and return with 
another load of meat. In the mean time, you can 
practice with the rifle until I come back and offer you 
a chance for another shot." 

Then, leaving the sledge, with its load, on the ice, I 
bowed again to the Doctor and departed. My former 
journey on foot to Etab. was one of unexampled hard- 
ship and danger, but the repetition of that journey, at 
a time when I was already exhausted with fatigue, was 
a desperate undertaking. I expected to die on the 
way ; but I preferred this alternative to making that 
submission which my late Commander required. I felt 
revengeful enough against Dr. Kane to wish that he 
had killed me, so that he might experience the pangs 
of remorse. When I had plodded on my weary way 
for several hours, the thought suddenly occurred, to me 
that I was without a morsel of food, and that it would 
be impossible for me to obtain any before I came to 
Etah. " But that matters little, (I soliloquized,) it 
is not likely that I shall die of hunger." 

I made this journey at the coldest and darkest period 



GRINNELL EXPLORING' EXPEDITION. 211 

of the arctic winter. The temperature must have been 
at least fifty degrees below zero. My limbs became 
stiiTer every moment, and a drowsy feeling crept over 
me in spite of every effort to resist it. Often did I 
feel strongly tempted to lie down, 

"And -with one dying glance upbraid the sky;" 

but better feelings prevailed ; and I looked up to 
Heaven with affectionate confidence, remembering that 
man alone was my enemy. I felt, however, that the 
catastrophe was approaching. My physical energies 
had been tried to their utmost powers of endurance, 
and they failed at last. I felt an oppressive weight on 
my brain ; my limbs were immovable ; I tottered and 
sank into a deep snow-drift. Then I recognized the 
certainty of my fate, recommended myself to Divine 
mercy, and became insensible. 

But a few minutes could have elapsed, I think, be- 
fore I recovered my senses. I felt no pain — no un- 
pleasant sensation of any kind — but was extremely 
drowsy; and although quite conscious that sleep and 
death, at that time, were one and the same thing, that 
thought would not have prevented me from indulging 
my somnolent inclination. In such circumstances sleep 
is so fascinating and attractive, that the gloomy aspect 
of his " half-brother" ceases to be terrible. A touch 
of the ice-king's sceptre then becomes as potent and 
irresistible as the somniferous influences of Prospcro's 
wand. But, while my physical powers succumbed to 
the antagonism of natural causes, my spirit resisted. 



212 Godfrey's narrative of the 

and prompted me to attempt one more struggle for my 
life. I felt that it was unmanly to be victimized by 
any earthly power, without resisting to the last ex 
tremity. With a desperate effort I arose to my feet, 
and gave myself a severe buffet in the face, which ef- 
fectually awakened me. In fact, the pain of the bruise 
kept me wide awake for three hours afterward. Strange 
as it may seem, when I again began to walk I found 
myself much refreshed. I judged that while my senses 
were absent I had enjoyed the benefit of a short sleep. 
I had, on several former occasions, observed the wonder- 
fully renovating effect of a very short slumber, when 
arctic wayfarers appear to be completely overcome by 
cold and fatigue. One instance occurs to my remem- 
brance. When the rescue party, mentioned in a former 
chapter, were returning to the brig, and the men seemed 
to be entirely worn out by toil and hardship, each Avas 
allowed to sleep for two minutes while sitting on the 
side of the sledge. They were aroused in time to pre- 
vent fatal consequences ; but this sleep of only two 
minutes duration appeared to restore all their animation 
and vigor. 

My falling into the deep snow-drift (as mentioned 
above,) was a providential circumstance, as a man is 
much less likely to freeze in a pile of snow than on the 
naked ice. After I had recovered my power of loco- 
motion, I struggled onward with some degree of speed 
for the first twenty miles, but afterward with a slow and 
irregular pace, like the movements of a somnambulist. 
I have no recollection of any thing that occurred during 



GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 213 

the last forty miles of my journey, and I am totally un- 
able to comprehend how it was possible for me to travel 
at all. It is a still greater mystery how I could keep 
t in the right course. I learned afterward from the Es- 
quimaux of Etah, that they saw me approaching their 
settlement, and ran out to meet me. They found that 
my eyes were closed, and that I was unable to answer 
any questions. The charitable natives took me into 
one of their huts, chafed my half-frozen limbs, and ad- 
ministered to my necessities with the most anxious at- 
tention. I slept fifteen hours without intermission, and ? 
on awaking, found myself as well and as vigorous as 
ever. 




GODFREY FAINTS FROM HARDSHIPS. 



flgspTHE CHEAPEST BOOK IN THE WORLD. .Jg| 

The finest Illustrated Work ever issued from the American Press, ana 
one of the most interesting and attractive books in the English language, 

COST THE PUBLISHER $12,000. 



THE LIFE, TRAVELS, AND ADVENTURES OF 

FERDINAND BE SOTO, 

DISCOVERER OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 

Br LAMBERT A. WILMER. 

Fire Hundred and Fifty octavo pages, Seventy-nine admirable En- 
gravings on Wood, and Six superb Steel Plates. All of 
these embellishments were executed by the most cele- 
brated artists in the United States. 



This book is a complete biography of the renowned adventurer, 
containing the incidents of his birth and early life ; his ambitious 
leve, and the great dangers to which he was thereby exposed; his 
efforts to gain the object of his attachment by seeking wealth and 
celebrity in America; his many daring and chivalric deeds; his 
perilous enterprises and important discoveries ; his crimes and 
misfortunes ; his singular and mysterious death ; and his burial 
under the waters of the Mississippi. 

Wilmer's Life of Ferdinand de Soto is the only book ever pub- 
lished which gives a true and faithful account of the operations of 
the Spaniards in America. It exposes the errors and misrepre- 
sentations of the historians in general ; and proves conclusively 
that a majority of the "mighty conquerors" were freebooters and 
villains of the most detestable and infamous character. It contains 
many thrilling accounts of 

SPANISH BARBARITIES 

AND 

DEEDS OF THE MOST THRILLING ATEOOITY, 

It gives the only genuine narrative of the " CONQUEST OF PERU" 
which has ever yet appeared in the English language, and proves 
that the "illustrious hero, Francisco Pizarro," was in reality an 
odious and contemptible cut-throat and cowardly robber, who 
deserved to expiate his crimes on the gibbet. 

(395) 



396 LIFE AND ADVENTURES OP DE SOTO. 

Among other items of the most absorbing interest in this work 
is a correct account of the 

CAPTURE AND BURNING OF THE PERUVIAN INCA, 

AND THE MASSACRE OF THOUSANDS OF HIS SUBJECTS. We 
can declare most conscientiously that no American history ever 
published gives a true account. of these transactions, and the other 
tyrannical deeds of Pizarro and his confederates. The narrative 
of these events in the "Life of De Soto" is taken principally from 
suppressed manuscripts in the Spanish libraries, which the kings 
of Spain would not allow to be published. The murder of the Inca 
is one of the most astounding and revolting deeds ever recorded 
in the history of the world. 

This great work also gives a complete and truthful account of 
De Soto's discoveries and adventures on that part of the American 
continent now forming the States of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, 
North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and the 
Indian Territory. Some of these veritable details are far more won- 
derful than the wildest inventions of the novelist. 

The futile but persevering search of the Spaniards after the im- 
aginary FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, and a Gold Region supposed to exist 
J n some part of North America, is graphically related. The horri- 
ving cruelties of the Spaniards are faithfully detailed. 

The whole of De Soto's route in North America is described as 
almost one continuous conflict with the natives. Several of his 
battles with the North American Indians, in sanguinary horror, 
surpass all similar events in the records of Indian warfare. His 
great battle fought at Mauvilla (the site of which is near Mobile, 
in the State of Alabama) occasioned a greater loss of human life 
than any other engagement which ever took place between the 
white race and the aboriginal tribes of America. The fearful suf- 
ferings of the Spaniards after this battle are described. All their 
baggage, clothes, camp equipments, plunder (including pearls and 
gold of great valuej, fell into the hands of the Indians. The sub- 
Sequent adventures of De Soto are full of peril and hardship : 
many of his followers were frozen to death ; many others were 
massacred by the Indians ; a large number perished in a conflagra- 
tion of the Spanish camp, and the survivors were left in the midst 
of a severe winter without clothes or shelter. In all these disas- 
ters, the indomitable resolution of De Soto excites the admiration 
of the reader. He sets all danger at defiance, overcomes every ob- 
stacle, and fights his way to the Mississippi. He builds boats, 
crosses that mighty stream in spite of the opposition of the natives, 
who assemble in great numbers along the banks of the river and 
haiass the Spaniards with a continued attack. De Soto's progress 
through the wilderness to the foot of the Ozark Mountains is next 
given. His terrible conflicts with the original Camanches are de- 
scribed. This tribe proves to be unconquerable. De Soto returns 
to the Mississippi. His grief, disappointment and remorse. He is 
attacked with a severe disease. His biographer suspects that he 
was poisoned. Proofs adduced. He dies. A friendly chief offers 



LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF DE SOTO. 39T 

to sacrifice liis beautiful daughter on De Soto's tomb, and presents 
her to Louis de Moscoso for that purpose. 

The work abounds with incidents of the most startling, extraor- 
dinary and romantic description, all of which are certified by re- 
ferences to authentic history. It comprises twelve episodes of In- 
dian character and life. The work contains Six superb Steel Plate 
Engravings, one of which is a Photograph of the $10,000 Painting or- 
dered by Congress, now adorning the Rotunda of the Capitol. The 
book is printed on the finest paper, and bound in good style. It is 
a work indispensable to every Library. The Steel Engraving of the Burial 
of De Soto in the Mississippi is pronounced the finest work of art ever dene 
in this country. 

Unbought Opinions of the Press, 

From Washington Union. 

Mr. Wilmer has produced a work which will obtain for him a lasting fame. Without 
any overstrained rhetoric, he tells the romantic story of De Soto's adventures in such 
a fascinating style, that the interest of the reader never flags till he has finished the 
volume. Differing from Prescott and Irving, the author of this work, while he apolo- 
gizes for " De Soto," does not fall into the common error of eulogium. 

"We cannot help remarking the difference, in this particular, between the treatment 
of our author's subject and that which Mr. Abbott saw fit to bestow upon Napoleon; 
had the latter observed the same judiciousness in his history, it would have been in- 
valuable, and would have done the justice to a great man which the fulsomeness of 
the eulogist, like the hatred of his detractors, has defeated. 

The history of De Soto is presented to the public in a very attractive form ; it con- 
tains over five hundred pages of clear, handsome print, and it is embellished by steel 
engravings from the skillful hands of the Sartains. and woodcuts by Orr & Teller. 
The portraits of De Soto and Donna Isabella, are fine specimens of the art. 

The book is one of the best that the American press has produced during the year, 
and we have no doubt it will become a standan-d work, and will well reward the 
scholarship of the author, and the enterprise of the publishers. 

From Cincinnati Times. 
"The Life and Adventures of Ferdinand De Soto." This is the title of a new and 
very interesting volume, just issued by J. T. Lloyd, Philadelphia. The author. L. A. 
Wilmer, has faithfully performed his task, and given us a work well worth takiug its 
place in any library in the land, as authentic and reliable. To the city of the Great 
West, the history of the discovery of the Mississippi cannot fail to possess unbounded 
interest, and to be read with avidity wherever it is introduced. The volume is hand- 
somely bound, and profusely illustrated. 

From Memphis Eagle and Enquirer. 

"The Life, Travels, and Adventures of Fei-dinaud De Soto, Discoverer of the Missis- 
sippi — by L. Wilmer — Philadelphia, J. T. Lloyd." 

This interesting and splendidly illustrated work will have an immense sale; it is 
one of the popular works of the day. Embracing a period of forty-three years, from 
the birth to the death of De Soto. What marvels of adventures are here recorded. The 
work, in thrilling interest, surpasses any thing published in twenty years. 

From N. 0. Picayune. 
"Lifa of De Soto — J. T. Lloyd, Publisher, Philadelphia." It is a work for every 
library in the land. De Soto, the discoverer ef the Mississippi, and Pizarro's brother- 
eonqueror of Peru. The wood aDd steel engravings are handsomely executed by J. W. 
Orr & K. Teller, N. Y. It will have immense sale in the Mississippi Valley. 

From K 0. Delta. 
"Life, Travels, and Adventures of De Soto, Discoverer of the Mississippi." Of all 
those heroic adventurers who came to North and South America, with the sword, the 
cr^ss, aud the flag of Spain, De Soto is to us the most interesting. His life is a romance 
full of hair-breadth adventures, chivalrous deeds, aud uueqnaled daring — his sword 
flashed from the waters of Tampa Bay to the banks of the Mississippi. 

From Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. 
"The Life, Travels, aud Adveutures of Ferdinand De Soto, Discoverer of the Missis- 
sippi, by L. A. Wilmer — J. T. Lloyd, Publisher, Philedelphia." This valuable addi- 



398 LIFE AND ADVENTURES OP DE SOTO. 

tion to the literature of America we hail with pleasure. Bringing out the work in sueh 
elegant style reflects credit, in every respect, upon the taste and liberality of the pub- 
lisher. It is written in a graceful, fluent style ; indeed, so full of interest is the work, 
that we found it difficult to lay it aside after we had ouce commenced its perusal. It 
is illustrated with numerous fine steel aud wood engravings. 

From St. Louis Republican. 

"The Life of Ferdinand De Soto, Discoverer of the Mississippi," by L. A. Wilmer, 
end published by J. T. Lloyd, Philadelphia. Perhaps there is no name connected 
with history so suggestive of daring adventure, of perilous enterprise, and romantic 
Interest, as that of De Soto, the Discoverer of the Mississippi. There is something so 
attractive in this Life of De Soto, that we are reminded of reading Robinson Crusoe in 
our youthful days. The pages flow with the daring deeds of the hero, the splendor of 
his achievements, the celerity of his movements, and his fortitude, where disease and 
famine, and myriads of savage foes were all assailing him in a remote wilderness 
never trodden by white man before. The work Mr. Wilmer has given to the publio 
is a good one. He has drawn freely from the many sources at his command. Hits 
style is clear and vigorous. The typographical appearance of the book is splendid, 
and the engravings striking and excellent. 

From Willis's Some Journal. 

"Life of De Soto, Discoverer of the Mississippi," by L. A. Wilmer, and bearing the 
imprint of S. T. Lloyd, Philadelphia. This is the most interesting work it has ever 
been our privilege to read. The author possesses tragic power of a high order. The 
account Mr. Wilmer gives of the capture and burning of the Peruvian Iuca, aud the 
massacre of thousands of his subjects, makes one's blood run cold. The volume has 
550 pages, and profusely illustrated on steel and wood. 
From Chicago Tribune. 

"Life and Adventures of Ferdinand De Soto, Discoverer of the Mississippi," by L. 
A. Wilmer — J. T. Lloyd, Publisher, Philadelphia. From a cursory glance at this 
work, we are satisfied that it is a book of rare interest. It is handsomely printed and 
highly illustrated. Mr. Bamford, the agent here, has nearly sixteen hundred sub- 
scribers waiting for the work. 

From N- Y. Courier and Enquirer. 

" Life of De Soto, Discoverer of the Mississippi," by L. A. Wilmer — Philadelphia, J. 
T. Lloyd. As De Soto was among those Spaniards who arrived on this continent at 
an early period — as he was a companion of Pizarro in the conquest of Peru — always 
taking the lead in all the battles — and as he was afterward an adventurer in our own 
country, better materials from which a life could be written no author could wish. 
There are many parts of the volume from which we might take extracts; we might 
tell of De Soto's attachment to Donna Isabella, daughter of Governor De Avila — how 
he was repulsed by the haughty father, on account of his poverty — how he deter- 
mined to seek wealth, and embarked in the Peruvian wars — his immense success in 
making millions of dollars by burning the Peruvian Inca — his returning to Spain and 
marrying the beautiful Isabella — his adventures in this country — his battles and hard- 
ships — his discovery of the Mississippi, and his burial under its turbulent waters. It 
is a work worth having. 

JUT TEN THOUSAND AGENTS WANTED— To whom we will 
supply this book at the wholesale price of $ per copy, and give 
each Agent a certain district exclusively. Single copies will be 
sent by Mail, free of postage, on receipt of $1.50. By ordering one 
hundred copies at a time, the work will be put at $ per copy. 

lllT TH IS BOOK IS SOLD ONLY by OUR AUTHORIZED AGENTS. 
Postmasters are requested to act as our Agents ; and if they can- 
not spare the time to do so, they will oblige us by handing this 
Circular to some energetic young man of their acquaintance. 

^gl^ Encluse your money in a letter if there is no Express office 
convenient, and direct it plainly, taking care to write the name of 
your Post Office County and State. Registered letters are always 
at our risk. Address, 

J. T. LLOYD, Publisher, Pa. 

2V. B — As we allow Agents «uch large profits, it will not pay us to send 
Sample Books on time: the cash must accompany every order. Agents are 
furnished Circulars and fine Illustrated Showbills, to assist thera 
in getting subscribers. 



LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF DE SOTO. 399 



To the United States Senate and House of Representatives at 
tlie United States of America. 

Tour petitioner respectfully shows, that he is the Publisher and Pf9« 
prietor of a new work recently issued in Philadelphia, and London, England, 
entitled, "The Life, Travels, and Adventures of Ferdinand De Soto, 
the Discoverer op the Mississippi River," 1 vol. 8vo., 536 pages, 6 steel 
plates by John Sartain, Philadelphia, and 89 fine wood engravings, by J. W. 
Orr, New York. That it is eminently a National Work, deserving of a wide 
circulation in the United States, and should be placed in every State and 
Public Library in the country. That it is the first authentic account of the 
discovery of the mighty Mississippi, whose waters wash nearly one-half of 
the States of this great Republic, and whose commerce contributes millions 
annually toward the support of this government. That the work traces ont 
De Soto's whole route, from the landing at Tampa Bay, Florida, through the 
entire southern country, to the banks of the Mississippi, which he took pos- 
session of in an imposing manner, in the name of the King of Spain. His 
battles with the many ferocious Indian tribes inhabiting at that time tho 
whole South, are graphically described. Their customs, religion, and belief 
are fully narrated by the author, who has spent many years of his life in 
searching the monasteries of Spain for authentic accounts of " De Soto's" 
explorations in this country, and many facts in regard to the extreme cruelty 
of the early Spanish explorers to the poor Indians are fur the first time given 
to the light of day in this volume. That " De Soto," as is shown, was basely 
poisoned by his comrades, in order that they might return to their native 
country, and escape from a land which had cost them so many trials, hard- 
ships, and extreme sufferings. That the discoverer of the Mississippi was 
secretly and silently, at the dead of night, taken to the middle of the great 
river which had cost him his life, and sunk to the bottom. That, his com- 
rades attempted to escape by descending the Mississippi in rude boats, but 
were pursued by myriads of savages in canoes, and nearly all were slaugh- 
tered. 

Your petitioner further says : That there is no account, of this interesting his- 
tory of the " Discovery of the Mississippi," to be found in any Library in Ame- 
rica That Congress, to commemorate the "Discovery of the Mississippi," 
very wisely purchased a painting of the same, at a cost of $10,000, and placed 
it in tho Rotunda of the Capitol. But how much more important to the peo- 
ple is this faithful history of the Life of De Soto, the discoverer of that great 
river, than a painting. 

Therefore, your petitioner prays that you will pass a Bill for the purchase 
of ten thousand (10,000) copies of the Life of De Soto, for general distribution 
among the various State Libraries. That yodr petitioner, thinking more 

OF GIVING TH;S WORK A LARGE CIRCULATION THAN MAKING MONEY ON IT, PRO- 
POSES to sell the book to Congress at cost, to wit, $1.50 per copy ; $2.50 
being the retail price, many members of both Houses having purchased the 
book at that price. 

By passing this Bill, you will confer a benefit on your constituents, and 
your petitioner will ever pray, etc. 

J. T, LLOYD. 

Philadelphia, 8th January, 1859. 



«"Why did Dr. E. K. Kane try- to kill Godfrey V— London Times 

Appeal of an Arctic Explorer, WE C. GODFREY, to the 
American Public. 

Fellow Citizens — I am the man whom Dr. Kane, in his published volume, has 
stigmatized as a mutineer and deserter, and whose moral elm meter he has blackened 
With many reproachful epithets and insinuations, without giving the least proof that 
I ever committed any offence against the laws of my country, or ever was guilty of 
one dishonorable action These unfounded and libellous charges against an unoffend- 
ing citizen of tlie United States have been circulated all over the civilized world ; and 
(strange to say) the only man who has raised a voice in my defence is an Englishman, 
the editor of the North British Review, who ha- shown, by Dr. Kane's men statements, 
that he has done me grievous and uudeserved wrong. 1 have prepared a faithful ac- 
count of my adveutures in the Polar regions, showing to what injurious treatment I 
Was subjected while on board the exploring brig Advance. In this forthcoming 
Volume, I have related facts which 1 defy Dr. Kaue's friends and flatterers to disprove. 
I have shown that I placed my life in the greatest peril by traveling on foot 95 miles, 
in the darkest and coldest part of the Arctic winter, to procure food for my dying 
companions. I have shown that I saved Dr. Kane's life at the risk of my own, and 
that he afterward attempted to shoot me, without any just cause or provocation. The 
book containing an account of my hardships, -ntteriugs, and wrongs in the Arctic 
regions, will be published within a few days, by Mr. Li.oyd, of Philadelphia. Such 
has been the influence of the stigma cast upon my character by Dr. Kaue's publica- 
tions, that I have found it almost impossible to obtain employment in the United 
States; the reader, therefore. -will not be surprised when I say that 1 have been com- 
pelled to drive an umnilrus in Phildde.lphi/1 , the past year, for a living. This Vindi- 
cation would have appeared sooner, hut 1 was unable to iiji^et the expense of publica- 
tion, until Mr. Lloyd agreed to publish rny book at his own risk. This gentleman 
has enabled a poor and unfortunate man to bring his cause before the American public, 
from whom he asks no more thau a fair and impartial hearing, and a just decision, 
according to the true and obvious merits of the case. 

WM. C. GODFREY. 

Philadelphia, June 1st, 1S57. 



<6ES»Now Ready the most thrilling Book of the Age.-^gft 



GODFREY'S THRILLING NARRATIVE 

OF THE LAST GKIA'NELL 

ARCTIC EXPLORING EXPEDITION, 

IN SEARCH OF SIS JOHN FRANKLIN. 
By "WILLIAM C. GODFREY, one of the Survivors. 

Three hundred pages, and eighty engravings. Price, in paper, 50 cents; cloth 
binding, (11.00. 

From the North British Revtkw. — "This attempt to take the life of Wm. C. God- 
frey, which no law, human or divine, can justify, was. fortunately for Dr. Kane, over- 
ruled. Wheu in a former Arctic expedition, its leader shot a ferocious Indian of hia 
party, the world viewed it as an act of stern necessity and personal safety ; but God- 
frey was neither a madman uorau enemy : he hail marched 95 Miles ah>ne, in the most 
dreary and coldest pari of the Arctic Ocean, to bring fresh provisions to his dying com- 
rades, without which, Dr. Kane admit/,; they would have all perished." 

'Every man, wanian, and cMld shonlri read this thrilling nar- 
rative of Godfrey's sufierings. 



J. T. LLOVD, Publisher, Philadelphia, Pa. 

1T.B.— If Tim cannot act as Ageut, hand this (Jheular to some energetic young man. 

(41.0) 



From the North British Revtew. — "This attempt to take the life of Win. C. God- 
frey, which no law, human or diviue, can justify, was, fortunately for Dr. Kane, over- 
ruled. When in a former Arctic expedition, its leader shot a ferocious Indian of his 
party, the world viewed it as an act of stern necessity and personal safety ; but God- 
frey was neither a madman nor an enemy ; he had marched 9o miles alone, in the most 
dreary and coldest part of the Arctic Ocean, to bring fresh provisions to his dying com- 
rades, without which, Dr. Kane admits, they would have all perished." 



GODFREY'S THRILLING NARRATIVE 

OF THE LAST 

Grinnell Arctic Exploring Expedition 




WM. 0. GODFHBT, (FROM A PHOTOORAPH.) 

IN SEARCH OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN 

By WM. O. GODFREY, One of the Survivors. 
Three hundred pages and 80 Engravings. Price in Cloth Binding, $1 

J. T. LLOYD, Publisher, Philad'a. 

(401) 



A NEW AND SINGULAR CHAPTER 
m THE HISTORY OF 

S. CUNNlNdHAM-BURDELU 



She visits a Matrimonial Office in Forty-third Street — Is Introduced 
to Mr. Fitzgerald of St. Lonis — Her Appearance and Dress — Her 
Opinion of Domestic Peace and of New York Ladies — She offers 
to find a Model Wife — Her Sentiments on Love, Marriage, and 
Divorce — Is a Free Lover — Mrs. Willis, the Broker — Discourse of 
Ghosts — She Relates the Wonderful Story of a Clock — Fitzgerald 
Makes a Remark about D^ad Men, and Cunningham gets Nervou3 
— An Important Confession about her Marriage— She Tells her 
Age — She Offers to Cure Fitzgerald of a Cold — Wants him, to go 
and Drink a Punch of her Making — He thinks of the Bloody Work 
in Bond Street, and Declines — She Accepts Five Dollars as a 
Slight Token of Respect — She Discourses of Murders and Execu- 
tions — Is Opposed to Capital Punishment — Denounces the Re- 
porters as a Meddlesome, Lying Set of Vultures— Her Opinion of 
the Tombs as a Residence — A Decisive Meeting — Cunningham 
Wants a Set of Furs — She Offers to Take Charge of Fitzgerald's 
Household Affairs — Wants him to Take a House Up-town— Mr. 
Fitzgerald Attempts to Get Away, but is Seized by Cunningham 
and Detained by Force — He Makes another Present, and. gets into 
the Hall, which is Dark — He Finds Himself Locked In — He Calls 
in Vain to be Released — He Gets into the Parlor — Resolves to 
Smash a Window — Interesting Denouement — Where Mrs. Cun- 
ningham Went after the Meeting. 

In November last, a young man, giving the name of C. Frank 
Fitzgerald, of St. Louis, Mo., went to the Matrimonial Office of Mrs. 
Jessie Willis, No. — West Forty-third street, in this city — an office 
which was started in the summer of 1858, and has been quite ex- 
tensively advertised. We copy the following specimen of the ad- 
vertisements from the New York Herald, of January 27th : 

"Mrs. Jessie Willis will give introduction to ladies and gentle- 
men with a view to matrimony, at her office, — West Forty-third 
street, from 3 to 8 p. m. Parties suited ; references required. Gen- 
tlemen's fee $1 : ladies free. Letters from the country must be 
post-paid, with return letter stamps. N. B. — All business confi- 
dential." 

(402) 



MATRIMONIAL BROKERAGE. 403 

THE GREAT SENSATION BOOK, 

JITST ISSUED, 

MATRIMONIAL BROKERAGE IN THE METROPOLIS. 

The most astounding volume issued in many years. 200 pp. IlluS' 
trated on Steel and Wood. Portraits of 

A Fifth Avenue Belle, who answered a $50,000 Advertisement for a 
" Pretty Wife." 

Portrait of Mrs. Willis, the Matrimonial Broker ; List of Vic- 
tims, Merchants, Lawyers, Southern Planters, and Fast 
Voting Men : all introduced to beautiful but thoughtless 
Girls. A hushel of Love Letters and Daguerreotypes cap- 
tured by the Police from Dr. Lyons, before he sailed for Eu- 
rope. Over 3000 Matches made at Mrs. Willis' Office annu- 
ally. John Dean and Miss Boker. Breach of Promise Cases, 
arising from Matrimonial Brokerage Offices, one for §10,000 ; 
another for $6,000 ; and for §11,000. Names of many of the 
Victims — Men well known. 

Sear what the New York Evening Post says, ( Wm. C. Bryant, Editor.") 
Matrimonial. — The subject was novel, and the writer of the 
articles is the first who has given it a thorough investigation. His 
inquiries have been long and laborious, and not always pleasant ; 
but the results, as he has given them, are in every essential re- 
spect authentic. Some doubt has been expressed, by correspond- 
ents and others, as to the truth of his descriptions of the several 
interviews held in a recent instance, but we are assured, on the 
best of evidence, that they are nothing more nor less than a faith- 
ful report of what took place and was said. If we had not been 
convinced of this, the articles would not have been printed in this 
paper. The author, moreover, has many letters and documents 
that have fallen into his hands, and which we have seen, confirma- 
tory of the stories he has narrated. 

Many breach of promise cases arise from acquaintances formed 
in matrimonial offices, and by means of advertisements ; a fact 
which is illustrated by the history of Mr. Gillette, in another num- 
ber. In short, it may be taken for granted, in nearly every case, 
that these proceedings are designed to decoy unthinking, inexpe- 
rienced, and heedless persons into some trap, either to wheedle 
them out of their money, or to put them in a position in which 
they will be completely in the power of the sharpers. 

We believe that the writer who makes these exposures has ren- 
dered a service to the public, and the book which he proposes to 
form from his contributions will contain much valuable informa- 
tion. 

300 Pages, Octavo. Price 50 Cents. 

Address J. T. LLOYD, Publisher, Philada., Pa 



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